Unstoppable Faith

November Teaching Letter from Denise Renner

Dear Friend,

I hope you are having a blessed autumn so far. What a wonderful world our God has created that gives us all these beautiful and incredible changes in season! His power is truly amazing, friend. 

With the year winding to a close and the holiday months looming before us, you may be entering a stressful time in your life. Maybe you’re already in one. You might need healing for yourself or for someone you love. You might be facing financial or relational hardship. You might have emotions that are just ruling your behavior and you can’t figure out why. I want to encourage you that you are not helpless to these storms of life, because God does not leave us alone without any tools against the difficulties we face.

That’s why I want to talk to you today about faith. Faith is more than just believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead. That’s our first step in faith, but we are called to go deeper than the first step. We are called to not just believe in God and His sacrifice but to act on it, to live lives that are rooted in faith, and this lifestyle becomes so important when we find ourselves in difficult situations.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

The best place to look for stories of faith is in the Bible, so I want to share some biblical examples with you. Oh, friend, these are some of my favorite stories. In every single one, we can see a faith that Jesus Himself was so proud of, and that’s why I picked these stories to show you what qualities you need to have unstoppable faith!

Faith is Persistent

The first thing we need to understand is that faith does not give up no matter what, and for this, I always love to talk about the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15.

Verse 22 tells us that she heard about Jesus, and she came running for His help, crying out to Him, “Oh, Lord, Son of David, my daughter is severely demon possessed.”

What you have to understand about this story is that in the past, the Canaanites were arch-enemies with Israel, so this woman probably didn’t have a great reputation with the Jews. With her background, they were probably judging her and trying to silence her, but she didn’t care. She kept crying out, screaming for His mercy and help, but the Bible says that He answered her not a word, and soon His disciples were saying, “She keeps calling after us. She’s a nuisance. Just send her away, Jesus.”

What a blow to this woman’s hope! Not only was Jesus ignoring her, but the disciples were saying to send her away. This was not what she was hoping for at all, yet she stayed there; she kept asking. How much faith must she have had, faith that overcame the cultural barriers between Jews and Canaanites, that overcame rejection from the disciples and seeming indifference from Jesus?

In verse 24, Jesus finally answered her:

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Jesus is saying, “I’m not trying to ignore you, but I was not sent to you. This is not my place. My instructions from the Father say that I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, not to you.”

She must have been absolutely devastated, but like I told you, this woman had persistent faith. Instead of going away dejected, she had the most incredible response:

Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”  —Matthew 15:25

After all this rejection, her response was to worship Jesus and ask Him once more. She humbled herself before Him and recognized who He was and what her place was beneath Him. After she worshiped, she prayed one short prayer. It wasn’t long or religious — it was just a very powerful three-word prayer: “Lord, help me.”

In verse 26, Jesus responded to her beautiful prayer with what looks like another rejection, but this faith-filled woman had just the right answer:

But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  —Matthew 15:26-27

She recognized, “Yes, Lord, I’m a Canaanite woman, and according to the Jews, I am like a dog, but I know that you have the power to help me too if you choose. If you call healing ‘bread,’ then I know that crumbs are in bread, and if you call me ‘dog,’ then I know that the dogs are under the table, and they get crumbs. So Lord, I’m claiming those crumbs. I don’t need the whole loaf of bread. Just give me a little tiny crumb, and that crumb will have all the delivering power that my daughter needs.”

It didn’t look good for this woman and her daughter. It looked like Jesus was ignoring her and refusing to give her her miracle, but her faith was so strong, so persistent, that she kept calling on Him even when it seemed like He wasn’t listening. In the end, she got what she was looking for. The Bible tells us in verse 28:

Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

It’s so beautiful. Jesus was so attentive to this woman, and He saw her faith. He was not sent for the Canaanites, but He saw her faith, and it moved the Father’s heart to give her that miracle. If your faith is persistent in every obstacle, friend, it will carry you through the storm to your miracle just like that.

Faith is Focused

The second thing we need to remember is that our faith needs to have a goal, and we need to be laser-focused on that goal. We saw this already with the Canaanite woman. She had a goal, and that was to get healing for her daughter, and she never swayed from it. She wasn’t distracted by the obstacles in her way. She wasn’t trying to get more than she needed from Jesus. She was just focused on getting healing for her daughter, and we find another woman with that kind of focused faith in Mark 5 — the woman with the issue of blood.

This woman had a flow of blood for 12 years. Can you imagine how exhausted she was? It must have been so draining to live like that, and that wasn’t even the worst of her problem. In that time and culture, she would have been considered unclean, and if anybody sat where she sat or laid where she laid or even just touched her, they would have become unclean too. If she had a husband or children or even parents and siblings, none of them would have been able to touch her for 12 years!

So not only was she exhausted and sick, but she was a social outcast, and verse 26 tells us that she had spent all her money on all these different treatments and doctors, but she had only gotten worse. Can you imagine how discouraged she was?

Then one day, Jesus passed by, and this woman had an opportunity for healing, and she seized it with her laser-focused faith. She had only one goal in mind: touching the hem of Jesus’ garment.

There was a large crowd on the street around Jesus, and if anyone had seen this woman or noticed that she had touched them, they would have started screaming, “Unclean! Unclean!” so it was a step of faith just for her to leave her house, and some scholars say that she may have even been crawling on the ground to stay hidden among all the long robes. So there she was, dragging her sick, weak body that had been bleeding for 12 years across the ground, through the crowd, to get her miracle, the whole time saying, “If I can touch His garment, I’ll be healed.” She pulled herself a little further — “If I could just touch it.” She pulled herself through more legs and feet — “If I could just touch it.”

Now notice, she wasn’t saying, “If I could grab hold of Him. If I could stand in front of Him. If I could stop Him and explain the problem.” She was not thinking about how to explain herself or how the miracle would work — she was only focused on getting close enough to brush His garment with her fingertips. She was exhausted, but it didn’t matter. All these people were wondering what was at their feet, but it didn’t matter. She had her eyes on Jesus.

Finally, she saw the hem of His garment, and she kept crawling closer and closer until she touched it, and the Bible says that 12 years of blood flowing from her body were immediately and absolutely gone!

Jesus noticed that some power had left Him, so He started looking all around in the crowd for who had touched Him. This woman wasn’t expecting to be called out. She wasn’t expecting to be noticed. She was so focused on getting the miracle that she didn’t think about what would happen after, but she finally stood up in fear and trembling, and the Bible says she told Him everything, the whole story, and at the end, He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34). Her faith — that laser-focused faith that didn’t even think about what she was going to do after she got healed — brought about her miracle. That’s what Jesus said.

Faith Has No Backup Plan

The last thing I want to tell you about faith is that it only has one option. We’ve seen this in the two women we just talked about. Both of them knew who her answer was. They weren’t trying to hold onto their problems or come up with a backup plan in case Jesus was too busy — they were trying to give their problems away to the only one who could fix it. When you’re acting in faith, you don’t have the room in your heart to start planning for the worst, to start wondering, “What if God doesn’t do this?” When you’re acting in faith, in accordance with His perfect and holy will, your only option is Him, just like we see in one of my favorite Bible stories in Mark 10.

“Now they came to Jericho. As He [Jesus] went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.”  —Mark 10:46

Blind Bartimaeus probably started this day just like he did every other day. He got dressed in special clothes — clothes that gave him the right to beg for food — and he went from wherever it was that he stayed the night and made his way to his special corner to beg, just like he always did — blind, just like he always was. As he was sitting there, having a normal day, wearing his beggar’s clothes, Jesus walked by, and suddenly, Blind Bartemaeus knew that this was going to be like no other day in his life, and he cried out for the change that he wanted to see:

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” —Mark 10:47

Just like the Canaanite woman, this blind man cried out for Jesus’ help and mercy, and the crowd started trying to quiet him down, but he just kept crying out. When Jesus heard him, He stopped and asked the crowd to call him over. They were so fickle, first trying to shut Blind Bartemeus up and then celebrating for him when Jesus called him, but that didn’t matter to Blind Bartimaeus. All he heard was that Jesus called him over.

Now, verse 50 is such an important part of this story:

And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

This garment, the one that identified him as a beggar, was so essential, because without it, Blind Bartimaeus didn’t have the right to beg for his livelihood. Why would he throw that aside? This was the most important thing he had, the thing that allowed him to sit there and receive money the only way he could!

But Blind Bartimaeus heard Jesus calling him, and he knew he wasn’t going to need that garment anymore. He’d been blind and had to beg for his food for so long, but starting right that moment, he knew his life was not going to be like that anymore, so he threw that backup plan away and came to Jesus. 

When Jesus asked Blind Bartemeaus what he wanted, he did not hesitate. He said, “I want my sight. And the Bible tells us, “Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road” (Mark 10:52).

Blind Bartimaeus acted in a faith that had no backup plan, no alternative. He had only one answer, and that was Jesus. He wasn’t going to even give himself the possibility of picking up that begging garment again, so he threw it away. Sometimes, friend, we’ve got to throw away the idea that we have other options and get rid of the illusion that anyone can help us but Jesus. We aren’t saved by good planning or financial security or even by other godly people who love us. God can use all those things to help us, but we can’t act like they are the things that will save us — only He can do that.

Your Faith has Healed You

Before I close this letter, I want to point out to you that in every single one of these stories, Jesus praised these people for their wonderful faith:

“O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.”
(in Matthew 15:28)

“Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
(in Mark 5:34)

“Go your way; your faith has made you well.”
(in Mark 10:52)

Do you see what Jesus isn’t saying? He’s not saying, “Oh, I’m giving you this miracle in My great mercy. My power will heal you or your child.” Instead He says, “Your faith.” Your faith is so precious to Him, friend. When you act with faith that is unstoppable — faith in Him alone that has one goal and will push through every obstacle to get to Him — you will open up the door to your miracle. God loves to heal us and carry us through the storms in our lives, but we have to put our full faith in Him if we want to see His full deliverance.

If you are in a difficult time of your life and you are struggling to act in unstoppable faith, I want you to contact our prayer team. You can call at 1.844.473.6637  or email denisesocial@renner.org, and a member of our team will be ready to pray with you through whatever is going on in your life.

I also want to invite you to my weekly program, TIME with Denise Renner, where I will be going into more depth on all these wonderful stories of faith that I got to tell you today. This program is live every Monday at 7 AM CT on both Facebook and YouTube, or on just Facebook Wednesdays at 12 PM CT. You can also find my teachings any time by visiting renner.org. I hope that you will join me this month as we dive deeper into the wonderful power of faith!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

Align Your Mind and Mouth for Healing

November Teaching Letter from Rick Renner

Dear Friends,

I greet you today in the all-powerful name of Jesus!

Before I get into my subject today, I want to say THANK YOU for all your prayers and for the gifts you give to our ministry to help us fulfill our God-given assignment. With the Thanksgiving season drawing near, we are especially full of thankfulness for everything you so faithfully do to help us get the trusted teaching of God’s Word to people around the world.

I’m also excited to tell you that the Renner Interpretive Version (RIV) of First and Second Peter is being released on November 4! Many decades ago, the Holy Spirit instructed me to write and said He would bless what I wrote. Ever since then, I’ve been writing, and He has faithfully blessed my books and materials to get into the hands of many thousands of people in various languages. Right now, you can call 1-800-742-5593 or go online at renner.org to place your order for the RIV of First and Second Peter. I believe you will be amazed at the wealth of insight and revelation on every page. I pray it will cause these two epistles to come more alive to you than ever before.

I also want to tell you that from November 1 to December 31, we are offering a 25-percent discount on every Renner product in our website store! We simply want to make everything available for you at this season of the year when you are thinking of what to give others at Christmastime.

In my letter today, I want to speak to you about how to appropriate the healing that Jesus purchased for you in His redemptive work on the Cross. Regardless of why a person is struggling with physical or mental illness, disease, or sickness, the fact is that Christ paid the price for him or her to be healed and to live in health. However, even though healing and health were secured by Christ’s sacrifice, there are many people who still grapple with physical and mental issues for a multitude of reasons. But regardless of why people get sick, God, in His great mercy has provided everything necessary to be healed. In today’s letter, I want to talk to you about two main points: 1) renewing your mind to the truth and 2) aligning your heart and mouth (what you believe and speak) so that you can receive the healing Jesus paid the price for you to possess.

As I just noted, many believers find themselves grappling with illness, despite Christ’s having already purchased their healing and health at the Cross. It is often the case that seeds of doubt and bad teaching have taken root in their hearts, causing them to doubt and even dismiss the idea that it is God’s will for them to be healed. The devil knows that if those seeds begin to sprout, he can wreak havoc in your life. He well understands that whoever or whatever controls your mind also controls your overall life, and that includes your physical and mental health. Consequently, the devil is relentless in his pursuit to infiltrate your mind with skepticism, doubt, and unbelief. If he succeeds, it will open the door for him to wage war on every facet of your being.

To protect yourself from wrong thinking and seeds of doubt, it is imperative that you understand everything that belongs to you because of Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross, so:

• Spend time studying what the Bible has to say about healing. Read and reread the truths in Scripture that declare it is God’s will to heal, and then keep reading and meditating on these truths until they are deeply rooted in your mind and heart.
• Spend time contemplating what “redemption” means and grasp its beneficial consequences in your life.

You must take an active role to make sure your comprehension of salvation and all that it encompasses is ingrained in your thinking — to the extent that it is a part of you and you are convinced beyond any doubt about what Jesus’ death and resurrection purchased for you. When you do, it will disarm the enemy from attacking your mind with doubt as he has done in the past. If he has no say-so in your mind, it will make it harder for him to have a say-so in your body — in your physical and mental health.

However, if you have any dangling or loose ends of doubt that the devil can latch onto or take hold of, he’ll use them to entangle you and hinder you from claiming the healing God intends for you to enjoy. But once those loose ends are removed and what God’s Word says about what Christ purchased for you has been embedded in your heart, you can take the next important step — and that is to bring your heart and your mouth into alignment. This is what I call the heart-mouth connection.

In Mark 11:23, Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” In this verse, Jesus taught that the heart-mouth connection is so powerful that it can bring to pass whatsoever you believe in your heart and declare with your mouth.

Notice Jesus said if a person will “say” something and “not doubt in his heart” — in other words, if he really believes what he is saying with his mouth and has no doubt about it in his heart — he will possess exactly what he says. In the context of Mark 11:23, Jesus meant that when an individual’s heart harmonizes with his or her spoken words, it invariably sets things in motion!

The word “doubt” is translated from a form of the Greek word diakrinomai, which means to differ, doubt, or waver. The Greek word diakrinomai, which is translated “doubt” in Mark 11:23, creates a picture of a person who does not differ in what he inwardly believes and verbally confesses. His heart and his mouth beat in unison and harmonize together. The verse could be rendered, “…Whoever shall say…and not differ in his heart….” If you say one thing with your mouth, but your heart doesn’t believe it or says something else, your heart and mouth are differing from each other, and you are making an empty confession that will not produce what you are saying. Your heart and mouth must be in alignment.

This principle of “believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth” applies to every sphere of life. In the context of healing for your body and mind, if you really believe in your heart that Christ purchased your healing on the Cross, and if you put your heartfelt faith together with the confession of your mouth, that combination will detonate divine power that brings healing and health into manifestation in your body and mind. Creative power is released when the heart and mouth get into agreement! This is why you must be careful about what you believe in your heart and say with your mouth. When your heart and mouth get “in sync” with each other, it can make things come to pass!

It is simply a fact that this connection between your heart and your speech can produce both constructive and destructive power. For example, the devil is well aware that if he can seed your heart and mind with doubt and unbelief and then coax you into speaking those lies with your mouth, your confession of them can eventually cause those evil things to come to pass in your life. That is why the enemy wants to fill your mind with doubt and unbelief. He knows that by enticing you to accept and internalize these doubts — and then vocalize them — it’s only a matter of time before they manifest as your lived experience.

In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, “…Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” According to Jesus, whatever is in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth. Imagine your heart as a fountain, where whatever it holds will inevitably bubble up through your words. No force, not even gravity, is strong enough to keep what is in your heart from eventually coming out of your mouth.

Mark 11:23 says that when beliefs deeply rooted within your heart and mind are transformed into spoken words, they unleash extraordinary power that is capable of shaping reality. Because Mark 11:23 says great power is released when your heart and mouth start working together, it becomes paramount to nurture faith within your heart and to speak words of faith with your mouth. This heart-mouth combination will ultimately sculpt your world around you.

An example of a good, or positive, heart-mouth combination would be a person who is struggling with some form of sickness, and to overcome it, he decides to ingrain into his heart and mind the truth that healing belongs to him by virtue of Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross. He habitually meditates on those truths until they come alive inside his heart — and once he is filled with them, as Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, those truths begin to show up in his mouth. And when his heart and mouth get into alignment, according to Mark 11:23, it creates a conduit through which the healing of Christ will flow into his life and become a reality. This means that a person whose heart is filled with faith in God’s Word concerning healing — and whose mouth speaks in agreement— will experience improvement in his health.

But on the flipside, as a negative example, let’s say another person is also struggling with some form of sickness. But rather than fill himself with the truth of God’s Word about healing, he tunes in to voices that say it isn’t always God’s will to heal. This results in his being filled with doubt and unbelief, and he finds himself being inundated with grim forecasts about his condition that he eventually begins to speak about. According to Matthew 12:34, we know that what fills one’s heart is soon reflected in his words. Therefore, when one’s heart and mouth are filled with negativity, that individual can summon the very health issues he fears.

I’m not suggesting you ignore a medical report, but I am suggesting you fill yourself with God’s promises of health and healing so that you can face even the toughest medical diagnosis with confidence. When you fill your heart with biblical promises about healing — and align your words with them — fear loses its grip. Your heart-mouth combination will result in your condition being improved or removed. Seek wisdom and adhere to your doctor’s guidance. However, it’s equally important to saturate your heart with God’s Word regarding healing and health and let your words echo His promises. As highlighted in Mark 11:23, when your heart and words are in harmony, they have the power to manifest the healing you are seeking.

Thank you for letting me minister to you today through this letter. I have so much more to say on this subject of healing, so we’ll pick up next month right where we left off. Please never forget that we are here to pray for you! Just call 1-800-742-5593 on any weekday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CT or write to us anytime at prayer@renner.org, and we will pray according to Jeremiah 33:3 to ask God to move on your behalf mightily and do exactly what needs to be done.

We love you and thank God for you!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus Christ,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our entire ministry team

P.S. Click here to view the new interactive Ministry Update page or click here to download the printable pdf flyer.

The God Who Heals Completely

October Teaching Letter from Denise Renner

</ifraDear Friend,

I am so glad to be able to write to you today! It is incredible that no matter how far apart we are, we can still touch each other with the teachings of Jesus through letters, just like the apostles wrote to encourage and teach the Early Church. I hope that, just like those letters, this one touches your life and encourages you in whatever way you need today.

I want to encourage you that if you are suffering from feelings of shame, humiliation, and rejection right now or if you have been suffering from them for years, there is hope of recovery. For many long years, I was held captive in a prison of shame without even realizing it. I want to share with you how God delivered me from the invisible prison that I suffered in for so much of my life. I believe that our testimony is one of the most important tools we have to reveal God’s nature and power and give Him glory, so I hope that the Holy Spirit can reach through my story today and touch anyone who needs healing, freedom, or hope.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

I grew up in a Christian home in Miami, Oklahoma, going to church every Sunday and Wednesday. At first, I lived what you might call a pretty normal life, but when I was about twelve years old, I developed a serious case of cystic acne on my face and neck. Now, cystic acne is not some normal case of teenage acne with a blemish here or there but a very painful condition that penetrates through all three layers of the skin, with sores so deep and big that, when pressed upon, they bruise.

I would suffer from this terrible skin condition for the next thirteen years. In school, my peers accepted me for my singing voice and my personality but not my looks, and I was made fun of a lot. As I grew older, I was even turned down for jobs that I wanted because of how my face looked.

I studied at the University of Oklahoma to obtain a Music Education degree, and in 1977, when I was 24 years old, I moved from Norman, Oklahoma, to Houston, Texas. There, I began to sing with the Houston Opera, working in the day and singing at night. As I drove to and from work, I would listen to radio preachers, and that’s how I heard a teaching that would change my life: on separate occasions, I heard both Kenneth E. Hagin and Kenneth Copeland teach on 1 Peter 2:24:

“…by whose [Jesus’] stripes, you were healed.”

Although I had been filled with the Holy Spirit since I was in college, I had never heard this teaching before — and it came just in time. After being sick for so long, my mind had begun to adjust to the sickness. Something in my personality had changed, causing me to believe that I wasn’t as good as other people. Instead of renewing my mind with what the Word of God said about my skin condition and my right to healing, I had begun to think that the condition was simply a part of life that I was meant to live with. The invisible curtain of shame had begun to bring its dominating presence over my soul.

After hearing this message, I decided to take hold of this wonderful truth about divine healing, and that truth began the process of setting me free.

Physical Deliverance

My journey to healing started with my own confession of faith. Out of my mouth, out loud, morning, noon, and night, I’d confess that by the stripes of Jesus, I was healed. I’d look in the mirror at my face and boldly declare, “By His stripes, I am healed!” over and over. I’d even sing it. Those words of faith were on my lips all the time!

After confessing the Word of God multiple times a day for about a month, I still couldn’t see any change in my condition. Nevertheless, although I could not see it, God’s hand was moving on my behalf. One day, I was driving my car and listening to a radio preacher when suddenly it was as if the Holy Ghost spoke right through her to me with a very simple question:

“Do you really want to be healed?”

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Holy Ghost was asking me that question through this radio preacher. As I quietly sat there in my car, thinking about that question, the Holy Spirit brought out His powerful searchlight and began exposing the hidden things in my heart that were holding me back from healing.

You see, throughout all those years, I had gone from doctor to doctor and tried so many antibiotics and treatments without seeing any change. I had often felt like the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8:43, who had spent “…all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any.” After a while, I began to feel sorry for myself, poor Denise who just couldn’t get healing. More than that, those car rides and doctor’s appointments when I was young had been times when I got to spend time with my mother, and I had started to enjoy the attention I got from her.

As I sat there in my car, the Holy Spirit showed me that my own self-pity and want for attention had been keeping me in bondage to this disease. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now: You cannot enjoy your self-pity and believe for your healing at the same time. You must give that “poor me” attitude to God and repent of it, turn from it, and resist it with all your strength. Only then will you be able to receive power and anointing to stand strong in your faith and believe God for your healing.

I had been living with a “poor me” attitude for a very long time without even knowing what it was doing to me, but at that moment, I repented. I asked God to forgive me and cleanse me of such selfishness, and I told Him that I definitely wanted to be healed.

Soon after that experience, I moved from Houston back to Oklahoma, still standing in faith for the manifestation of my healing. At this time, I was dating my future husband, Rick. It was wonderful to have such a loving boyfriend who accepted me just as I was, and although I didn’t know it, my fight of faith against cystic acne was almost over. After thirteen years of pain, embarrassment, and one doctor after another, I was about to be free forever from this horrible condition. 

I went to bed one night, confessing once again that by Jesus’ stripes, I was healed, just as blemished as I had been for the past thirteen years. It seemed like a normal night, but it was anything but that; this was to be the night of my miracle.

I don’t know if Jesus took two seconds, two minutes, four hours, or the entire night to perform my miracle. I just know that when I went to bed, I had cystic acne on my face and neck as had been the case for thirteen years, and when I awoke the next morning and looked in the mirror, my face and neck were completely clear!

I slapped my blemish-free face in utter amazement and joy. I called my mother on the phone and exclaimed, “Mom, the Lord healed me! Jesus totally healed me and delivered me during the night!”

From that moment on, I never suffered from that terrible skin condition. I cursed that sickness and commanded it to never come near my future children, and now I have three sons who, I can tell you with certainty, will never suffer from that condition!

The Devil Strikes Again

Now, your testimony doesn’t just stop at your first dramatic healing from God. It is a story that stretches across your whole life, and I still had a lot of life to live and a lot of healing to receive. You see, the day that God healed me, I didn’t know about believing for scars to be removed. I was just grateful the condition was gone, so I didn’t even think about it! As a result, the scars on my face from thirteen years of cystic acne remained — scars that went through all layers of the skin.

As the years passed and I reached my 40s, I noticed that my face was beginning to fall years before most women deal with such problems. For years, I’d been forced to pull on my face as I treated those terrible blemishes, and that had stolen the youth from my face.

Then, in 2002, my husband Rick said to me, “Denise, let’s just see what surgery can do to help eliminate the scars.” We looked into the matter and discovered that lifting my face would help make my scars less visible. As Rick and I discussed the possibility of going further, he said, “Honey, let’s allow the surgeon to do all he can to help you look your best.” So in the summer of 2002, I took the big leap and underwent facial surgery that included both a laser peel and a facelift.

My recovery afterward was going great. My face was red and swollen, and I had to keep a greasy ointment on my face at all times to aid in the healing process, but in my mind’s eye, I could see a more beautiful me on the other side of my recovery!

I was feeling so happy and hopeful, and that’s when I experienced a setback. One day, soon after the surgery, bumps began to break out all over my face. After being without blemishes on my face for twenty-five years, I suddenly had a red, swollen, greasy face that was covered with bumps! It was as if the devil had slapped me. After taking this big step toward trying to do something about my scars, I looked worse than ever.

Trust in God’s Process

Before I go further, let me back up to explain what had been happening spiritually in the year before my facial surgery: Jesus had been opening my eyes to what was in my soul.

The Lord took me back to a day when I was an eleven-year-old girl living in Oklahoma. I was walking around the house with my head held high and my voice booming through every room, singing as if I owned the whole world!

Over the years, I have watched the way my husband and my sons carry themselves as they walk up to the platform to speak. It’s as if they are taking the whole stage as their territory for Jesus! At the time, seeing their freedom served to expose my own bondage. I would think to myself, If only I could be as free as Rick, Paul, Phillip, and Joel!

When the Lord brought back that memory of me as a young girl, singing with such complete abandon, I realized something: Back then, I’d possessed the same kind of boldness that I saw in Rick and the boys! Through my years of suffering with that horrific skin condition, all the ridicule I’d endured and all the feelings of being less than other people had muted it. The enemy had stolen my boldness from me, but now I knew there was a time when I had been truly free, and I wanted that freedom back.

One day, the Lord gave me further revelation about myself.

Someone had given me some tapes by Derek Prince, and I began listening to them. Brother Prince had a wonderful teaching that said when Jesus died on the Cross, He took our shame and gave us His glory. As I listened, I thought to myself, There is a lot of difference between shame and glory. I want to experience that glory.

Suddenly, I remembered that I always covered my face when I prayed. I would often think to myself, Why do I always do that? Why do I always cover my face? Now I wondered, Could the reason be that I carry a hidden sense of shame that I didn’t even realize was there?

I realize now that God was setting me up for a miracle, leading me toward freedom from a type of bondage that I hadn’t even known was hindering me! Sometimes, when Jesus is delivering us from something deep in our souls, He does it step by step. His work in me was like that. First, He healed me. Second, He gave me a loving husband who wanted the best for me. Third, He revealed to me what I didn’t know about myself — that there had been a time when I was free. Fourth, He continued to give me more revelation from His Word.

Psalm 119:105 says:

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

That light was beginning to shine brighter and brighter in my heart, and God was setting the stage for another miracle.

Spiritual Restoration

Now let’s go back to several days after the operation when I was looking at all those bumps on my face and the devil was laughing at me because he thought he had won the victory.

Before the surgery, I had taken Communion twice a day for two weeks and prayed that God would heal me exceedingly and abundantly, beyond all I could ask or think. Although I looked worse than ever, I knew that my faith had not been in vain, but I still couldn’t help but feel shame at how awful I looked.

In the middle of this spiritual battle, I was invited to dinner at the house of a couple who are dear friends of mine. Now, usually, a person does not go out in public looking the way I did, but I put aside my reluctance to step outside my door and accepted the invitation. Although I was ashamed of how I looked, I just apologized to my friends for my appearance and came anyway. 

That evening, I enjoyed a wonderful meal and fellowship with my hosts, and after dinner, I asked that couple to pray for me. I desperately wanted those bumps to go away so I could get past the ordeal. Besides, I was scheduled to sing for the Joyce Meyer women’s conference in two weeks, and I definitely did not want to be on stage looking like this!

When the husband laid hands on me and prayed, I fell to the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit. I had heard of this happening to others, but this was the first time it had happened to me. The anointing was so strong that I couldn’t get up for a solid hour! During that hour, Jesus took me back in my mind to the years before I’d ever had blemishes on my face. He let me see myself as if I had never had a skin problem, all the way through middle school, high school, and college. I saw myself live through those years with a clear, unblemished face, my head held high with confidence that I was just as good as those around me. During that hour, Jesus completely delivered me from shame.

I want to say to you, friend, doctors can change your face, but they cannot change your soul! Only Jesus can go down into someone’s soul and take out the poisonous root of a problem that the person doesn’t even know is there! It was as if He came up to the prison of shame that had held my soul for so long, put His key of love and power in the keyhole, opened the door, and said, “Denise, come out from there — you are free!”

As I lay on that floor, engulfed in the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told me, “I am restoring you. I am reestablishing you. I am replenishing you.” When I got up, I was a new person — healed, delivered, and free to walk in boldness that had been a stranger to me for more than three decades. Not only that, but from that moment on, the bumps on my face began to disappear. By the time the two weeks had passed for the Joyce Meyer conference, my face was clear, but what God did on the inside of me was the real transformation. His Spirit came over me in such a way that I was changed forever on the inside.

Friend, I am happy with the results of my surgery, but I want you to understand that no human doctor could have done what God did for me. Jesus bore our shame so He could give us His glory; therefore, no one except Him can touch and deliver us to this degree. Only He has the authority and power to bring about this kind of change, and it is only the Holy Spirit who can take what Jesus did on the Cross and cause His deliverance to become a manifested reality in our lives!

I hope that this testimony will touch each and every one of your lives today. If you need healing, deliverance, or transformation, I want to encourage you to contact our prayer team by calling 1.844.473.6637 or emailing denisesocial@renner.org. I believe so strongly in the power of prayer, friend, and I want you to experience God’s power today, so please contact us for anything that you are going through right now.

I also hope that you will join me for my program, TIME with Denise Renner. This month, we are running my series with Heather Z, and I hope that listening to her testimony can bless you just like I hope mine has today. You can watch on Facebook or YouTube every Monday at 7:00 AM CT or tune in on Wednesday at 12:00 PM CT on Facebook. This series is also airing Mondays on Victory channel at 2 PM CT and on Wednesdays on Daystar at 8 AM CT. All my programs are also available at Renner.org. I can’t wait to see how God moves in your life through this program!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

With His Stripes We Are Healed

October Teaching Letter from Rick Renner

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the powerful name of Jesus!

I want to begin my letter today by telling you that we are receiving calls, letters, and emails from all over the world. People are really tuning in on different media platforms because they are looking for teaching they can trust. Providing that kind of material is our prayer — and we are thankful to God for using us to touch so many lives. And…we are thankful to YOU for being a partner and friend who is helping us to carry out this important mission that God has given us. Denise and I, our family, and our team are willing to do the work — and we are working hard — but we can only do it because of God’s grace and the faithful giving of our partners. I often say that our partners are the ones who put gas in the tank so we can take God’s Word to people — and I want to say THANK YOU for the financial fuel you put into the tank so we can fulfill God’s call on our lives!

I’m so glad that many have ordered my new book The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Tribulation — An End-Times Countdown and What Happens Next — and now it’s time for me to let you know that the Renner Interpretive Version — A Conceptual Interpretation of the Greek New Testament, First and Second Peter will be released in one month! This second volume of the RIV is amazing, even to me. When I finally saw it all typeset and ready to be printed, I was nearly speechless at the vast amount of revelation on these pages. I wanted you to know that it still is available at a special presale discount right now. To order it, simply call 1-800-742-5593 or go online at renner.org. I’m excited for you to get your copy!

In my letter today, I want to continue sharing with you about how to receive the healing that Jesus purchased for you in His work on the Cross. A study of the Scriptures shows that healing and health are an inseparable part of what Jesus provided through His redemptive work on the Cross. As a matter of fact, healing and health belong to you just as much as God’s forgiveness, freedom from guilt and shame, peace of mind, and everything else that belongs to you in Christ. What Christ endured in His scourging and death on the Cross was literally a deathblow to sin, disease, illness, and sickness, and through faith in His work on the Cross, we can enter into wholeness in every part of our beings.

Today, I want to show you what Isaiah wrote about the price Jesus paid to obtain healing and health for us. I really want you to see that healing and health are an inseparable part of what Jesus provided through His atonement. We can be assured that healing and health are safely held in the spiritual bank of Heaven, and they await every child of God to lay claim to them. Yet many Christians find themselves beset by illness, and many are unaware that healing and health have been provided at the Cross. But you are about to see that healing is your rightful inheritance, and it is God’s fervent desire for you to embrace a life of wellness.

A Deeper Look at Isaiah 53:3-5

Nearly 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the suffering that Christ would endure and the purpose for it. In Isaiah 53:3-5, Isaiah wrote, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Throughout the Old Testament, no prophecy about Christ’s suffering and eventual glorification is as clear as what Isaiah presented in these verses. Because these words of Isaiah are so pivotal in this discussion, we will begin with Isaiah 53:3, where Isaiah began by vividly writing that Christ would be “despised” by men.

The word “despised” originates from a Hebrew word frequently encountered in the Old Testament that paints a picture of disdain and scorn. The gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John vividly illustrate how Jesus was subjected to extreme derision by religious authorities, guards, soldiers, and political figures alike. Various translations of the word “despised” include despise, disdain, disesteem, hold in contempt, or scorn.

In the span of His three-year public ministry, Jesus was “despised” and treated with non-stop “contempt” by the religious leaders of His day. Their verbal onslaughts and relentless attempts to undermine Him were unyielding. But their contempt of Him reached its zenith on the night He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Upon His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was taken to the residence of Caiaphas, the high priest. It was there that He faced the brutal hostility of Israel’s most revered religious figures. Behind closed doors, these leaders descended upon Him like a brood of vipers, unleashing their fury with words of venom, spitting in contempt, and inflicting physical blows upon Him.

Following His interrogation by Pilate and Herod Antipas, Jesus then endured unspeakable cruelty at the hands of Roman soldiers. They mocked and cursed Him, striking His face with a reed plucked from Pilate’s courtyard fountain. In their brutality, they yanked the beard from His chin and crafted a painful crown from razor-sharp vines and forced it onto His head. As if this torment were not enough, He was led to a whipping post, where two merciless scourgers used their savage instruments to rend His body with each vicious lash.

Ultimately, Jesus’ hands and feet were pierced with nails that secured Him to the cross they used to crucify Him. These acts of brutality were the bitter fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 53:3 that He would be “despised” and shunned by the very people He came to save.

Isaiah 53:3 also prophesied that Christ would be “rejected” of men. The word “rejected” might also be translated abandoned or forsaken. It captures the image of one isolated, shunned by society, and avoided by those around him. Despite moments when Jesus drew crowds, His loyal followers were consistently just a “little flock” (see Luke 12:32). Of that little flock, we are told in John 6:66 that “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” There were others who believed on Him, but would only come to Him by night, as was the case with Nicodemus in John 3:2. John 7:48 implies that other rulers and great men may have believed on Him, yet stood aloof from him, and according to Matthew 26:56, eventually even His own disciples “forsook him, and fled.” Thus, we see the complete accuracy of Isaiah’s prophecy.

In Isaiah 53:3, the prophet continued to say that Jesus would be “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The word “sorrows” is very important for us to understand. It is translated from a Hebrew word that is rich with meanings of physical torment, deep anguish, acute pain, and profound suffering. It is derived from a root that means to grieve or to be in pain. It is similar to the Greek word that depicts a scourge that was used by Roman soldiers to torturously rip open the human body and shred it to pieces. Furthermore, the word “sorrows” that Isaiah used in this verse also encompasses both emotional and physical torment. Here, Isaiah prophesied the violent nature with which Christ would be treated.

Isaiah went on to describe Christ as being intimately “acquainted with grief.” The Hebrew word that is translated “acquainted” means to be acquainted or to know by intimate personal experience and personal knowledge. The Hebrew word that is translated “grief” undeniably refers to physical and mental afflictions of the body and mind — diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses. While some might attempt to spiritualize this into a metaphorical spiritual illness, the Hebrew word incontestably points to tangible physical and mental suffering. The use of this word “grief” underscores that Christ personally experienced and tasted physical and mental disease, illness, and sickness in His redemptive work on the Cross.

Then in Isaiah 53:3, Isaiah added that “we hid as it were our faces from him.” The word “hid” depicts such a deep aversion to something that one cannot bear to look upon it. What Christ endured was so ghastly that when these events occurred, those who were close enough to see them turned their heads to conceal from their sight the horrible rending and tearing of Christ’s flesh at His scourging and crucifixion. It was too much for human sight to bear. Isaiah’s prophecy thus was fulfilled.

Forgive me for commenting on a movie, but Mel Gibson’s magnificent 2004 film called The Passion of the Christ is one of the most profound portrayals of Christ’s suffering ever produced. As I sat in the movie theater to see it, during the scene when the Roman soldiers unleashed their brutal scourge upon Jesus, I noticed that I — along with nearly everyone else in the theater — instinctively turned away. In that moment, I inwardly heard Isaiah’s words “we hid as it were our faces from him.” If a cinematic portrayal affected the audience so profoundly, one can scarcely fathom the unimaginable reality of Christ’s suffering witnessed firsthand. In each screening in cinemas worldwide, viewers recoiled from the ghastly spectacle, and every time they “hid their faces,” it served as a testament to Isaiah’s prophecy that witnesses of Christ’s torment would avert their gazes, unwilling or unable to bear the sight of such profound anguish.

For a moment, I must dive into Isaiah 52:14, where Isaiah prophesied just how torn Christ’s body would be in His redemptive work for us. In that verse, Isaiah said, “As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”

The word “visage” in Hebrew describes Christ’s visible appearance as a result of the harrowing ordeals He endured. The Hebrew word translated “marred” means that as a result of His scourging and crucifixion, Christ’s human body was in a state of complete disfigurement. The words “more than any man” lets us know that His condition was unparalleled, surpassing any suffering endured by another human throughout history.

Isaiah 53:3 continues to say that “he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Here, the word “despised” again emphasizes that, despite the fact that He endured such profound anguish for our sake, humanity as a collective scorned His sacrifice and looked upon it with disdain. Even though He endured all this for each of us, humankind looked upon His sacrifice with contempt and despised it.

In fact, Isaiah says that we “esteemed him not.” The word “esteemed” in Hebrew means to appreciate, consider, esteem, or value. The phrase “esteemed him not” conveys a complete lack of recognition. The word “not” in Hebrew is emphatic, which means that, as a whole, we emphatically did not esteem what He was doing on the Cross. This prophecy foresaw that the gravity of Christ’s sacrifice would be lost on those who bore witness.

In essence, this prophecy foretold that at the time of Christ’s sacrificial death, those who witnessed it would not appreciate it, consider what it really meant, esteem what He was doing, or value what was happening. It brings to mind the soldiers who callously watched Him die on the Cross while they cast lots for his garments, or the religious leaders who looked upon Him and spoke blasphemous words against Him — or the thief who verbally abused Him even as Christ was paying the price for him and all the others to be redeemed. Those present during Christ’s sufferings failed to grasp the monumental act unfolding before them, neither appreciating, considering, nor valuing the priceless gift of salvation.

To summarize, Isaiah 53:3 declares that in His sacrifice for us, Christ:

• Was despised and treated with contempt.
• Was wholesale abandoned and rejected of men.
• Endured physical torment, deep anguish, acute pain, and profound suffering.
• Personally tasted physical and mental illness, disease, and sickness.
• Was shunned by humankind, who turned their faces to avoid looking upon His suffering.
• Did it all for each of us — even though He was despised for it.
• Was not appreciated, esteemed, or valued for what He was enduring for each of us.

But then Isaiah 53:4 adds, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

In Hebrew, the word “surely” is imbued with a profound sense of certainty, and it could be rendered categorically, definitely, emphatically, indeed, truly, or verily. This is an emphatic word, and it means Isaiah was making an ardent declaration. He was elevating his tone to hammer home an unquestionable statement. The word “surely” means that “categorically, definitely, emphatically, indeed, truly, or verily…He has borne our griefs.” By choosing this potent word, Isaiah speaks of what is absolutely certain, indisputably and undeniably true, and completely unquestionable.

Then Isaiah adds that Christ “hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” In Hebrew, the word “borne” evokes an image of one who lifts a weight from another’s shoulders and chooses to bear it upon himself. In context, what Jesus lifted from us and took upon Himself is explained by the words “our griefs.” This word “griefs” in the original Hebrew specifically denotes physical and mental afflictions of the body and mind — physical and mental diseases, illness, and sicknesses.

Though some may argue for a metaphorical interpretation and suggest these terms refer to spiritual weaknesses, the original Hebrew text does not support such a reading. An honest analysis of the text reveals that Christ, in addition to purchasing forgiveness of sin, freedom from guilt and shame, and peace of mind, also lifted physical and mental disease, illness, and sickness from us, and He took them upon Himself on the Cross.

If we stopped here, the original Hebrew text has already gloriously told us, “It is absolutely certain, indisputably, undeniably true, and unquestionable that He has personally lifted all physical and mental diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses from us and taken them upon Himself….”

And then Isaiah eloquently reveals that Jesus “carried” or shouldered the immense load of our “sorrows.” The Hebrew word translated “carried” could be rendered as shouldered, and it implies an act of bearing something tremendously heavy or lifting a significant burden. The burden Christ “carried” and “shouldered” for us was our “sorrows.” The word “sorrows” is interpreted from a Hebrew word that depicts physical and mental anguish and pains. The precise choice of these words powerfully underscores that through His redemptive act, Christ lifted from us and absorbed into Himself our physical and mental diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses. He lifted them from us and took them upon Himself at the Cross on our behalf.

Pausing here to reflect on what all this means, the text could be rendered, “It is absolutely certain, indisputably, undeniably true, and unquestionable that He has personally lifted all physical and mental diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses from us, and He has taken upon Himself absolutely all physical and mental anguish and pain….”

Isaiah 53:4 continues to say that “we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” In Hebrew, the word “stricken” conveys the notion of having someone or something subjected to a brutal, harsh, and forceful hand. In the Old Testament, this word is often used to describe a moment when a person (or people) is visited with severity — and very frequently the visited severity manifests as physical disease, illness, or sickness. Meanwhile, its counterpart, “smitten,” portrays the actions of someone who physically lays his hands on someone or something to afflict or severely beat or strike it with the intention to destroy. Notably, this same word is also used militarily to describe a ferocious attack on an adversary during warfare with utter obliteration as the goal. Then on top of all these already intense words, Isaiah adds that Christ will be “afflicted,” which in Hebrew means to be utterly crushed.

Adding all of these meanings to this verse, we find that Isaiah 53:4 could read as follows: “It is absolutely certain, indisputably, undeniably true, and unquestionable that He has personally lifted all physical and mental diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses from us, and He has taken upon Himself absolutely all physical and mental anguish and pain, as God’s forceful hand of judgment came upon Him. God struck the enemy with the intention to completely destroy him, and God did it with such force that it was completely and utterly crushed.”

When all this occurred, God was unleashing a mighty blow against the sin and physical and mental disease, illness, and sickness that Christ had willingly absorbed into His being. God was waging a war against everything Christ took upon Himself — sin, guilt, shame, lack of peace, and every ailment, disease, illness, sickness, and torment — both physical and mental. These were age-old enemies that had been unleashed upon the world from the moment of Adam’s transgression and that had haunted humanity ever since. Yet at the Cross, God launched an attack that was aimed at eradicating them, and He delivered a decisive and fatal strike against them.

Isaiah 53:5 summarizes, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” In the original Hebrew, the word “wounded” conveys a sense of being pierced or deeply wounded, foreshadowing with remarkable clarity the future piercing of Jesus’ hands, feet, side, and brow. Remarkably, Isaiah captured this vision of Christ’s suffering with prophetic precision, seven centuries before the event unfolded.

The Hebrew concept of “transgressions” refers to violations of God’s commandments and God’s nature, including sin, rebellion, and turning against God — all of which are a reflection of humanity’s flawed nature that was inherited from Adam’s initial transgression. Isaiah foretold that Christ would be physically pierced and would bear physical wounds, shedding His blood to pay the ultimate price for our sins and acts of rebellion. That payment of blood was required for Christ to redeem us from Satan’s slave market and to restore us to God’s original intent for our lives.

Then Isaiah says, “…He [Jesus] was bruised for our iniquities…” (Isaiah 53:5). The words “was bruised” are a translation of a Hebrew word meaning to beat to pieces, to crush, or to destroy. This highlights the profound suffering Christ endured on behalf of others and emphasizes themes of substitutionary atonement and redemption. Meanwhile, the word “iniquities” stems from a Hebrew word that encompasses a range of human failings including guilt, moral lapses, depravity, perversity, and shame.

This passage reveals that Christ’s sacrifice went beyond just covering our sins; He obliterated our iniquities. This includes not just our moral failures, but also the guilt and shame attached to them. Through His redemptive act on the Cross, Christ obliterated these burdens entirely, offering freedom from guilt, moral failings, all forms of perversity, and the heavy cloak of shame that once ensnared us. Thus, Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross includes the complete removal of all of these, and He intends for you to be freed from all associated shame that once hounded you because of past iniquities in your life.

Isaiah 53:5 states “the chastisement of our peace was upon him.” The word “chastisement” is from a Hebrew word that pictures punishment for past activities. This illustrates the profound truth that at the Cross, Christ bore the penalty we deserved and paved the way for us to attain “peace.” This “peace” is deeply rooted in the Hebrew concept of shalom, a word that signifies not just tranquility, but an all-encompassing state of wholeness and completeness in every part of a person’s life. This term encompasses happiness, health, prosperity, safety, security, and soundness of mind. It paints a vivid picture of a life that is abundantly blessed and that is flourishing in every dimension. Thus, when Jesus paid the price for us on the Cross, He was not only bearing our burdens but also securing our holistic well-being and ensuring that we could experience a profound peace of mind and that we would thrive in every aspect of our lives.

Then Isaiah 53:5 adds, “…And with his stripes we are healed.” The word “stripes” finds its origins in a Hebrew word that pictures bruises, welts, and the dark-blue marks left by a severe whipping. Of course, this is a reference to the scourging that Christ endured to obtain our freedom from all forms of physical and mental disease, illness, and sickness.

By understanding the meaning of the Hebrew word rapha, which is rendered “healed” in this verse, it’s clear that Christ’s redemptive act brought about not only the forgiveness of sins, liberation from shame, and mental peace, but also physical and mental healing from all manners of ailments. Christ’s work on the Cross provided for the comprehensive restoration of every facet of our existence — spiritual, physical, and mental.

Combining all these Hebrew word meanings in this verse, Isaiah 53:5 carries the meaning:

But he was pierced and deeply wounded for our transgressions — that is, our violations of God’s commandments and God’s nature, including sin, rebellion, and turning against God. He was beaten, crushed, and destroyed for the removal of our iniquities — that is, our guilt, moral lapses, depravity, perversity, and shame. The punishment we deserved for our past activities was laid on him, and we have been given peace in its place — not just tranquility, but an all-encompassing state of wholeness and completeness in every part of our lives so that we can peacefully thrive. And due to the massive, full body bruises, welts, and stripes that were laid on him by a severe lashing of the whip, we are healed from all manner of physical and mental disease, illness, and sickness.

Do you see how vital it is that we understand Isaiah 53:3-5? Having unraveled its profound messages, we are now poised to embark on next month’s letter where I want to talk to you about how to appropriate healing and health for your body and mind.

I realize this letter is a little longer than usual, but I really want you to see what is stated in Isaiah 53:3-5 about what Jesus purchased in His work on the Cross. Jesus paid the ultimate price so you could be set free in all these areas. If you are struggling in any of these areas that Jesus died to free you from, we want to pray with you. We are waiting to join our faith with yours for God to do what needs to be done. Just call 1-800-742-5593 any weekday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT or write to us anytime at prayer@renner.org. And as I always request, please be praying for us as well as we press ahead by faith to do what Jesus has asked us to do in our ministry. As a partner, you are a big part of what we do, and we thank you again for being such a faithful friend and partner!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our entire ministry team

P.S. Click here to view the new interactive Ministry Update page or click here to download the printable pdf flyer.

The Right Foundation for a Relationship

September Teaching Letter from Denise Renner

Dear Friend,

It is such an honor to write to you again and encourage you in your walk with the Lord. This month, I am looking forward to traveling throughout the United States and sharing what the Lord has placed on my heart with many wonderful congregations. I’m especially excited to let you know that I will be hosting a Women’s Healing Meeting on Friday, October 3 at 7 PM CT at Millennial Church in Tulsa, OK. If you are in the area, I would love for you to join us! I believe this will be a very special time in God’s presence, and I am expectant for all He has in store for us. I encourage you to come with a heart full of faith — ready to worship, and to receive from the Word of God!

Today, I just want to give you some advice about carrying on healthy relationships with other people. I have counseled many married women over the years, and many of the things I’m going to tell you are lessons I have learned in my own marriage, but I believe that the foundational truths of this teaching can help someone in any kind of relationship. Whether you’re married or dating or just navigating family dynamics and friendships, I hope you will take this advice to heart and let it change the way you approach the people in your life who you love.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

Unfair Expectations

I have seen many instances in marriage where women set themselves up for failure from the very beginning of their married lives because they want their relationship with the man they love to meet all the needs of their hearts. Well, that just isn’t possible. There are some needs that we have that only Jesus can fulfill for us.

Psalm 18:1-2 says, “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Notice that verse 2 doesn’t say, “My husband” or “my best friend” or even “my brother or sister is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my strength, my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my stronghold.” That would be a lot of responsibility for one person’s shoulders! As wonderful as our friends and family might be, their shoulders are simply not that big, and our false expectation that any of them can meet our every need sets us up for undue disappointment. 

I have certainly faced that kind of disappointment before, and it was shortly after our family moved to the Soviet Union. You see, Rick was pouring himself into the work that we had come to do, busy with everything that comes with embarking on a new assignment from God. The vision he was carrying would prove to have a vast impact on that entire region of the world. However, it took an enormous amount of time and attention in those early days as Rick had to intently focus not only on constructing a physical church building, but also on raising up church leaders and laying the foundation for what was to become a huge ministry.

At the beginning, I was engaged in serving right at his side. I started and directed the praise and worship of our church, I helped Rick in the TV ministry, and I was blessed to be the stay-at-home mom of three wonderful little boys, who I even home-schooled for a time. But as Rick’s responsibilities and vision kept increasing, I began to feel that I was losing the place in his heart that belonged to me as his wife. Even though he was following God’s call as he was meant to, I began to harbor feelings of resentment and unforgiveness toward him because I felt so left out of his life.

Before I knew it, my negative feelings had so consumed me that I began to experience troubling symptoms in my body. At times, my hands and feet would go almost completely numb, and my unforgiveness opened the door to a great deal of fear in my life, including horrible panic attacks.

It took me much time to realize, but eventually, God revealed to me that, although my emotions were directed toward my husband, I was the source of my own bitterness and frustration. Like many women, I had great hopes that marriage would always be peaceful and happy, but the fact is, life often brings just the right circumstances to reveal our inner ugliness in full color. When we feel vulnerable and become needy toward others, that hidden ugliness floats right up to the surface and disrupts the peace and happiness we hoped for.

Fortunately for all of us, it’s often in our desperation that we discover the truth. As I struggled with all of those negative emotions concerning Rick and our marriage, I was desperately drawing close to God, and He was able to reveal to me the things that I was missing. You see, marriage is a beautiful thing. When you meet the love of your life, it’s okay to depend and lean on him or her, but God never intended for any of us to be totally dependent on another human being. I was putting too much pressure on Rick, expecting that he would meet all my needs, when my dependence really needed to be on God!

Perhaps you’re not yet married or don’t overly depend on your husband or wife, but you might be putting too much pressure on other relationships in your life. You may have an inordinate dependence on your friends or your children. Maybe it’s on your coworkers, your mentors, or your parents. It’s wonderful to have these people in your life, but Jesus wants you to trust Him with all your heart and to place your dependence completely on Him, something that no human relationship could take.

What’s wonderful is that when we realize this, we not only make ourselves happier, but we become better partners in our relationships. When I married Rick, I was holding on to the belief that he would be there for me at all times and would hold the answers to all my needs, but that was actually a selfish way to start a relationship. Over time, I realized that the Holy Spirit is the only One I should fully depend on, so I no longer felt the need to constantly look to Rick to meet all my needs. Once I settled that in my heart and allowed God to do a transforming work in me, I was able to concentrate more and more on what I could do for Rick instead of on what he could do for me. By turning my eyes to the Lord as my provider, I was free to enjoy Rick in a fresh, new way, and he was also able to enjoy our journey through life together in a way he’d never been able to before. I was finally able to give to him without wanting anything in return because of the secure, confident place I’d reached with the Lord. 

Work in Progress

Friend, we have to recognize that Jesus is the Rock of our salvation — immovable, unshakable, and unchanging. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), and He’s the way out of whatever problem we’re facing in our relationships, even if it’s a problem of our own making.

I want to make sure you understand this, because it is only by truly seeking Him that you will be able to experience His help. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “…we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

This verse makes it clear that our attention matters. Studies have shown that when an object other than the road draws a driver’s attention, it is the driver’s instinct to steer the vehicle toward that object. Of course, if the driver allows himself to be distracted long enough, he will end up causing a wreck.

Similarly, what we are looking at and focusing on determines where we will go in life. If we’re not looking at the Word of God, our emotions will be unstable and will lead us astray, causing emotional havoc and wreckage in our lives and relationships. So we must ask ourselves, “What has my attention? What am I looking at?” When we put our focus on Him, He holds us firmly in place. He alone provides a place of security that’s absolutely trustworthy, different from any place of safety and protection we’ve ever known. His gift of deliverance and freedom is deeper, wider, and higher than any pain or affliction that comes our way.

This type of deliverance usually doesn’t come through someone laying hands on us, and it usually doesn’t come overnight. Most often, we receive this kind of deliverance through a long process of seeking and working to draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Many times, we say that we want to grow in Christ, but we also want a quick way out of every test, trial, and feeling of discomfort, so I want to encourage you to watch out for that attitude. When trouble comes to each one of us and presses hard against our faith, we are presented with an opportunity for growth. We have to seize that opportunity because each of us is responsible for the condition of our own heart, regardless of our circumstances. Our deliverance has been completely paid for, but we must each make the decision to accept the freedom and healing that He has provided for us. Our growth will only happen as we choose to respond to Him and His Word with faith and humility, even when we feel we’ve been wronged or treated unfairly.

It may seem unfair that we have to put in all this work, especially if the wrong in a relationship is not our fault, but that is the only way we’ll ever be able to live in a healthy relationship with others. I have ministered to many women who have been abused and betrayed by someone close to them, and I can say from watching them that if you are bound in any way, you do not have to be stuck in that place. The Word of God can bring deliverance, growth, change, and confidence in who you are in Jesus. You can go to Him and let Him free you from the chains that have bound you — even the chains that may have to do with someone else’s choices.

The Lord can redeem any life in any situation, so we can be confident that whether our pain is a result of someone else’s actions or our own negative thoughts, God will turn it for good. Sometimes, we may not even realize what the source of our pain is, but He can reveal it to us and lead us to a better place, so we need to be actively seeking Him all the time so that He can lead us on the right path to a healthy relationship.

It’s Your Choice

In today’s world, it seems like we see so many times where people walk away from their marriage when things get hard or the relationship appears to be stagnant, and they do it only to get into another marriage where they have the same expectation that their “happily ever after” will somehow be ready-made with little or no effort on their part. I hope that this teaching has really helped you to see that this is just not the case. Each one of us is on a journey of growth and change, and that journey doesn’t just end when you find the love of your life or become a parent or find a friend who understands you. This is a lifelong journey, and it is wonderful to have people to share it with — as long as you are sharing it with God as well.

God made relationships, so He knows how to build a beautiful, healthy relationship, and it stands to reason that we need His help to nourish this lifelong process. Yielding to Him may not always be easy, because our flesh enjoys taking control, leaning on our own understanding, and having everything our own way, especially in our dealings with other people, but that is not God’s way, and His way is the only one that He will bless, prosper, and crown with His grace. Whatever relationship you are pursuing in this season of your life, God needs to be in it, so make sure that you are depending on Him rather than on another person who is just as unsteady as you. Learn to accept your responsibility so that you can do the hard work of searching yourself and making your relationship work.

I am so honored to have been able to share with you today, and I just want to remind you that we want to support you. Whether you’re struggling with a changing friendship, considering marriage, or needing freedom from dependence on someone else, prayer is a powerful tool,  and here at Renner Ministries, we have a prayer team who is ready to stand with you for anything you need. Whatever you might need prayer for, we are ready to receive your request, so just call 1.844.473.6637 or send an email to prayer@deniserenner.org. We are believing for a radical change in your situation!

Before I close, I want to remind you to come join me at Millennial Church in Tulsa, OK, on Friday, October 3 for my Women’s Healing Meeting! It is going to be such a powerful time together! I also invite you to watch my weekly program, TIME with Denise Renner, live every Monday at 7 AM CT on YouTube or Facebook. You can also catch my program on Facebook every Wednesday at 12 PM CT, and all past programs are available on my Facebook page, and my YouTube channel. You can even watch my program on Victory channel or Daystar at 2 PM CT on Mondays or 8 AM CT Wednesdays respectively. I truly hope that you will take any of these opportunities to join me for more teachings that I pray will encourage you and help you to grow in the Lord.

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

God Desires Your Health and Prosperity

September Teaching Letter from Rick Renner

Dear Friends,

Before I get into what is on my heart to share with you today, I want to say THANK YOU for your faithfulness to the Lord and for being among the best partners in the whole world. Denise and I are thankful to the Lord for you — and for our entire partner family. We are particularly grateful for your special generosity over the summer months. You are helping us to take the life-changing teaching of God’s Word to the ends of the earth. We are having a record response from people who are reaching out to us for prayer and spiritual support. Please pray for our whole team as they diligently respond to all these needs.

I also want to tell you that my new book The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Tribulation — an End-Times Countdown and What Happens Next has been released! If you haven’t ordered your copy, I want to encourage you to get yours by calling 1-800-742-5593 or by going online to renner.org/rapture. I was able to send some pre-release copies to Christian leaders across the nation, and many of them have responded with such encouraging comments, stating that it is a book that is really on time for believers — it will clear up a lot of confusion and fear that people have on this important subject. I wanted you to be aware that it is finally available!

Today I want to talk to you about HEALING.

Each year, our ministry is blessed to receive countless prayer requests, many of which come from individuals seeking healing for themselves or for loved ones and friends. It is a deep honor to unite our faith with theirs and steadfastly trust in the manifestation of God’s healing promises in their lives. In response to our faith-filled prayers, people regularly reach out again to let us know that they (or those they know and love) received healing or grew progressively better after we prayed with them. Oh, how we love to hear those praise reports!

But there are also others with whom we agreed in prayer for healing who are still waiting for the answer to come. In some cases, those individuals have waited so long that it seems to them as if the answer has been endlessly delayed. Some have waited so long that hope appears to wear thin, and questions loom large: Why does my healing remain unseen? Why does healing elude me despite my steadfast faith? Or, Am I doing something wrong that prevents my healing from taking place? These instances leave people grappling with profound — and often unanswered — questions.

Today and over the next few months, I want to encourage your faith by focusing on healing. Let’s begin by focusing our attention on First John 5:14-15, which says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

This passage assures us that we can possess unwavering conviction that when we petition for anything aligned with God’s will, He both listens and responds affirmatively. The word “confidence” in this verse is interpreted from the Greek word parresia, signifying a manner of expressing oneself boldly, candidly, and with straightforwardness. This bold kind of speech is often translated in the New Testament as the word “confidence.” Indeed, it depicts a confident kind of speaking — a daring to speak exactly what one believes or thinks with no hesitation or intimidation. Within this context, it means if we know our prayers are in harmony with God’s will, we have the liberty to approach God with boldness, honesty, and directness as we present our petitions to Him.

In fact, verse 14 goes on to say that “…if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us….” The word “ask” is from a form of the Greek word aiteo, which conveys a sense of demanding or insisting. This term paints a picture of someone who approaches prayer with authority, unafraid to voice his needs and fully expecting to receive what he seeks. The confidence of such a person stems from the fact that he or she is asking “according to His [God’s] will.” This means that individual is not just randomly asking for anything he or she wishes, but is praying “according to His will.” When you pray with what aligns with God’s Scriptures, there is no need to be timid. Instead, you can stand firm, assert your faith, and expect God to respond!

First John 5:14 continues to say that if we pray according to His will — or according to what God has revealed in His Word — “He heareth us.” God’s ear is attuned to His own promises spoken back to Him, and that is what prompts Him to take action. While our emotions and needs matter deeply to Him, it is ultimately the confident, heartfelt recitation of His promises that stirs Him to respond. Therefore, understanding what God has revealed as His will, particularly concerning healing, is of utmost importance. Indeed, First John 5:14 states that God is moved to action when He hears a believer boldly praying the promises of His Word.

As mentioned before, God responds to prayers when they are aligned with the teachings and truths found in His Word. This is why it is crucial to align your prayers with His will. Knowing the will of God — and praying according to the will of God — is absolutely essential if you want to see your prayers answered. And it is absolutely God’s will for you to be healed and to live in health. You will see as this teaching unfolds that these blessings are included in Christ’s work of redemption on the Cross.

God’s Explicit Will for Your Life

In Third John, verse 2, the apostle John expressed the will of God when he wrote, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth.”

This verse is an unequivocal declaration of God’s explicit will for your life, and, hence, it is key for you to understand this verse. Having this verse cemented into your heart and mind will put you on a foundation so strong you can confidently release your faith for divine healing.

The word “wish” in this verse is a translation of the Greek word euchomai, which means to express one’s strongest desire or will. John was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which means this was not only John’s strongest desire and will, but also God’s strongest desire for His people.

Since the explicit will of God for every believer is stated in this verse, we need to really examine it to discover exactly what is God’s will for each of us. John wrote, “…I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth.”

First, the words “above all things” are an interpretation of the Greek words peri panton. The word peri means a circumference and that which surrounds, and the word panton is all-inclusive and means everything. As a phrase, it pictures absolutely everything that encompasses you, surrounds you, and concerns you — and that means absolutely everything.

Then John added that it was his desire (and because he was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was actually expressing God’s will) that God’s people would “prosper.” The word “prosper” is interpreted from a form of the Greek word euodoo, which is a compound of the words eu and hodos. The word eu means good and pictures what is enjoyable, delightful, and pleasurable, and the word hodos is the Greek word for a road. As the compounded word euodoo that John used, it means to have a joyful, enjoyable, delightful, and pleasurable experience on every road of life you take.

In the ancient world, prosperity was frequently measured by the size of one’s home or the quantity of other possessions, as well as having enough finances to travel abroad and take vacations. For example, in Acts 19:25 when Paul was ministering with such great results in Ephesus that the idol-makers feared their “wealth” would be affected, the word “wealth” is translated from the Greek word euporia. This word is similar to euodoo in Third John 2 because it also means prosperity, wealth, and abundance. To have euporia meant to have the ability to travel and have an enjoyable traveling experience.

The idol-workers in Ephesus measured their prosperity and wealth by whether they had enough financial resources to travel and vacation abroad. Whether they were traveling to faraway places on expeditions to enhance their trade or their studies as explorers and hobbyists, or they were traveling and enjoying leisurely time away in a foreign land — travel was an indicator of a person’s wealth and status. These idol-workers feared that Paul’s preaching and the infiltration of the Gospel would cause people to stop buying the idols they made, thus affecting their income to the point that they would no longer be able to travel abroad and take vacations.

The way the word euodoo was used in history tells us that it was John’s (and God’s) will that believers “prosper,” meaning that God wants His people to have not only enough money to pay their basic bills, but also enough extra to enjoy life to the point they can travel and enjoy themselves.

In the First Century, traveling was an outward sign of prosperity and wealth. The same might be true today in the way some measure prosperity, but, largely, people measure wealth differently in modern society — for example, by the size of people’s homes or the quantity of their possessions or other resources. But the ability to travel was a pronounced mark of prosperity in the ancient world. Maybe traveling is not your dream, but according to the verses we’ve seen previously, the word “prosper” (euodoo) pictures having more than enough to pay your basic bills and sufficient resources to enjoy any road of life that you will ever take. In other words, it is not God’s will for you to struggle and barely make it in life, but to have enough financially to enjoy yourself along the way.

But notice John then added that it was his strongest desire (and God’s) that the people of God “be in health.” The word “health” is interpreted from a form of hugiaino, a word that depicts being physically healthy, in good working order, and in sound condition, and it includes mental soundness. The reason it is translated as the word “whole” is that it carries the idea of wholeness or of one who is complete and sound in every part of his being.

In John 5, we discover that a form of the word hugiaino is used four times concerning the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.

• In John 5:6, Jesus asked the lame man, “Wilt thou be made whole?” The word “whole” is from a form of hugiaino, which signifies Jesus was asking if he wanted to be healthy, in good working order, and sound physically and mentally.
• In John 5:9, we read that after Jesus told the man to pick up his bed and walk, he was “made whole.” The word “whole” is again translated from a form of hugiaino, which means he was immediately made healthy, restored to good working order, and made sound physically and mentally.
• In John 5:11, after the religious leaders asked who healed him, the healed man answered that it was Jesus who had made him “whole.” The word “whole” is again translated from a form of hugiaino, which means he testified that it was Jesus who’d made him healthy, in good working order, and sound physically and mentally.
• In John 5:14, after Jesus found the man, He told him, “Behold, thou art made whole.” The word “whole” is again translated from a form of hugiaino, which means Jesus jubilantly acknowledged that the man was now healthy, in good working order, and sound physically and mentally.

So when John wrote that it was his (and God’s) strongest desire and will that God’s people be in “health,” it meant that God wants His people to be healthy, physically in good working order, and sound physically and mentally.

In Third John 2, John wrote, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health…,” and we have covered the words “wish,” “above all things,” “prosper,” and “health.” But then John added “as thy soul prospereth.” The word “soul” refers to the emotions, mind, and will. Herein we find that God not only wants us to be in good physical health, but He wants His Word to transform our souls to the point that every thought — or every road the mind finds itself traveling — will be filled with the abundance of God’s grace. Overall, we find that it is God’s explicit will for His people to be healthy, in good physical working order, sound physically, and abundantly blessed with good mental health.

The RIV (Renner Interpretive Version) of Third John 2 says:

My dearly loved brothers, it is my strongest desire that you prosper in every way that concerns you — that you not only have enough money to pay your basic bills but enough extra so you can really enjoy yourselves on every road of life that you take — and that you be healthy, in good, physical working order, sound physically in every way, and that you are blessed with good mental health.

Today I want you to see that the Bible clearly states it is God’s unequivocal will for you to prosper on every road you take in life and to continuously enjoy the benefits of good physical and mental health — and that if you pray with faith according to God’s will, He hears you, and He will do what you requested!

When we come back next month, I want to pick up here and continue. Healing is needed by everyone at some time, so my heartfelt prayer is that the Holy Spirit will use this series of letters to enlighten your understanding and provide long sought-after answers that will lead you into the healing and health Jesus purchased at the Cross for you.

Thanks so much for letting me minister to you today. Please remember that we are here to pray for you, and if we can agree with you in prayer about anything on your heart or that you are facing, we are waiting to join our faith with yours for God to do what needs to be done. Just call 1-800-742-5593 or write to us at prayer@renner.org. And be praying for us, too, as we do what Jesus has called us to do. Thank you again for being such a faithful friend and partner!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our entire ministry team

P.S. Click here to view the new interactive Ministry Update page or click here to download the printable pdf flyer.

The Life You Leave Behind

August Teaching Letter from Denise Renner

Dear Friend,

I want to ask you a very important question today: Is there anything more important, more precious, and more powerful than an encounter with Jesus? Is there anything that could happen in your life that is more important or more powerful than a one-on-one encounter with Him? I can answer that question for you right now: No, there is nothing.

Now, a lot of people try to replace this experience. You may know people like that; they’re searching for an experience, but maybe they try to get it with drugs, sex, or alcohol. Maybe they try to get it with all the riches or all the education they can attain. These people know that they are missing an experience of some kind, but all the things they try are shadows compared to the real thing, an encounter with Jesus, because that encounter will completely change your life.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

Before I tell you about the life-changing, one-on-one encounter that you can have with Jesus, I want to remind you that this is not some strange or frightening thing. The Word of God tells us:

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

—1 Corinthians 6:17

It is so important for us to understand this, because God is saying that we are one spirit with Him. This means that you’re not over here in the corner while God’s off across the room or up in Heaven, and you have to wait for Him to come back to you for your encounter. Instead, God is on the inside of you in the person of the Holy Spirit!

We’re not trying to get to God because He already lives inside of us! He didn’t save us so that we would obey all the rules and keep all the regulations, but He invited us into a divine relationship, a divine communion with Him. When the Holy Spirit came inside of us, He didn’t say, “I’m going to stand over here, and you’re going to stand over there.”  No, He said, “We’re going to be one spirit. Together.”

He is always with you, and it’s normal for us to have an encounter with Him, but when we come to Him, we can’t walk away with our lives looking the same, and that’s what I want to talk to you about today. 

Someone You Wouldn’t Suspect

Sometimes we can forget who Jesus came for. If you’re in a good place where you’re not doing any huge sins and everything’s going right in your life, it can be easy to start judging people who are struggling with sin, and when you are the one living in sin, your shame can make you think that God doesn’t want to be near you. Neither of those thoughts are right, but we still think them, and that’s why the person that I’m going to talk to you about, who had a one-on-one encounter with Jesus, is someone who was not living a good and godly life: the woman at the well.

In John 4, starting in verse 4, we learn that Jesus and His disciples were traveling, and He was tired, so He sat down at a well near this city, and His disciples went into the city to buy food. While Jesus was leaning on that well, a woman came to get water, and verses 7-9 tell us about this exchange between them:

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food

Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”

This interaction tells us that what Jesus was doing was against culture. It was very inappropriate for a man and a woman to be talking alone, and what was even worse is that she was a Samaritan and He was a Jew. If He wanted to act properly, Jesus had no reason to be talking to this woman, but He wasn’t trying to obey cultural rules. He was on assignment, and it involved something that was going to happen with this woman.

Now, this interaction was not just culturally inappropriate; this woman was living a lifestyle that even her own people would have looked down on. We can see this in verses 16-18:

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

Think for a moment about the picture that we get of this woman. If you knew a woman that had been married five times, what would you think? I know I would probably think that she’s not a very nice woman. We might think this woman has probably hurt a lot of people and has a lot of enemies. Even more than that, she is currently living with another man that she’s not married to. Well, now you might be thinking that she’s very wild and unfaithful. She probably has emotional problems because she can’t stay married to anybody. People probably talked about her so that if you had walked down the streets of Sychar, you would have heard somebody talking about this woman and how terrible and unstable she was.

We might think or say all those things, because we’re human, and our minds and our emotions can get caught up in judgement, but Jesus was focused on something else. Maybe she did have all these problems with her behavior and her personality and her reputation, but He knew that that was not her real problem. Yes, her life was a mess, but the real problem, the problem that Jesus wanted to fix, was that she didn’t know the gift of God yet.

Friend, maybe you’ve seen the blessings of the Lord, and you’ve lived a life faithful to Him, but you need to recognize this problem. What’s the difference between you and this woman? What’s the difference between you and that stranger who’s caught up in a horrible lifestyle? What’s the difference between you and that family member whose actions you are just aghast at and can’t believe that someone could do something like that? What’s the difference?  Is it that you’re better than them? Do you have the right to look your nose down on them and say, “If I had their problems, I would never act like that”?

No! The real difference is that you know the gift of God and they don’t. Have you ever broken a rule that you just didn’t know was there? Have you ever forgotten a rule you did know and made a mistake? Then you have experienced the same problem as this Samaritan woman. On the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them” — why? — ”Because they don’t know.”

This precious woman didn’t know the gift of God, but Jesus was coming into her space. She was having an encounter with Him, and this woman was beginning to know some things.  

A Life Changed

This is her encounter with Jesus:

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

—John 4:25-29

The thing I want to point out to you today is that that woman came to the well to get water, but when she had the encounter with Jesus, what did she leave at the well? 

Her water pot.

This woman was so amazed by who she was talking to and what He was saying to her. She was so amazed by His very presence that she forgot that she even came there for water, and that is what it means to have an encounter with Jesus! When you have a one-on-one experience with Him, you can’t walk away with what you brought, because you have your hands full with something else. That woman came to the well for water that would perish, but she left with living water!

What did you leave behind when you came to Jesus? What did you take a hold of in that exchange? Friend, it is so good to remember these things; think of that precious woman, look at all that she left behind. Water was the most important thing for her that day, but she left it behind and took a hold of living water. She left behind her messy life and took hold of a testimony about a man who had changed her life and knew everything about her, and it was so powerful she just had to tell the whole city to come and talk to Him.

Remember today what you left behind when you came to Jesus. Maybe you’ve picked up some of those things again. Maybe you’ve picked up offense or worry or ingratitude. The wonderful thing is that Jesus doesn’t just give us one opportunity. He doesn’t say, “You had your chance. You shouldn’t have picked that up again.” He knew we would pick those things back up, and He wants to encounter us and make the exchange all over again. Whatever you’re holding onto or whatever you’ve picked back up, it’s time to leave it behind. Instead, pick up thankfulness; pick up trust in God; pick up forgiveness, because that’s what an encounter with Jesus gives you. 

I know it can be hard to drop what you’re holding onto. Maybe you don’t even know what it is yet, or maybe you know exactly what it is but you’re just too ashamed that you went back to it to tell anybody. Maybe you’ve even fallen into judging others for picking back up what they left behind in Christ. Wherever you are in your journey, our prayer team is here for you! We are ready to pray with you for anything you are facing, so please give us a call at 1.844.473.6637 or email us your prayer requests at prayer@deniserenner.org.

Before I close, I also want to invite you to my weekly program, TIME with Denise Renner, where I get the opportunity to open up the Word of God and share with you what is on my heart. You can watch live every Monday at 7:00 AM CT on Facebook or YouTube, or Wednesdays at 12:00 PM CT on Facebook. My program is also on Victory Channel Mondays at 2 PM CT and on Daystar Wednesdays at 8 AM CT. I am always so grateful to be able to share this time with you, so I hope you will join me!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

Embracing a Balanced Lifestyle

August Teaching Letter from Rick Renner

Dear Friends,

Greetings in Jesus’ precious name! In my letter today, I want to share some things I’ve learned in life to underscore the importance of embracing a balanced lifestyle. Then I’ll give you a New Testament example of one whose health was possibly jeopardized because of an imbalanced lifestyle. I pray this letter blesses and encourages you.

Before I get into the teaching, I want to say THANK YOU for being one of the most amazing friends and partners in the world. Denise and I and our entire ministry team are so thankful to God for you. I always say it’s because of God’s grace and the giving of our partners that we are able to do what we’re doing. Just today I received updated information about where we’re reaching people, and it is simply thrilling to see responses coming from all over the globe. People everywhere are crying out for teaching that will answer their questions. I’m so thankful God is using us to bring them teaching they can trust. You are such a huge part of it all — so I wanted to say thank you!

Denise and I recently shared in a special video that during the summer months, often people give less to the ministry, and this makes it challenging as we endeavor to stay on target reaching people with sound Bible teaching. We rarely make a financial request, but we would be so thankful for any extra gift this month so we stay on track with our assignment. Most of our partners know I rarely make this kind of request, so please know that I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel the need was important. Our partners already do so much, and we are so thankful to God for each one! If you haven’t seen this short video of Denise and me but would like to view it, you can do so at renner.org/summer.

I also want to remind you that my new book The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Tribulation — An End-Times Countdown and What Happens Next is now available at our online store at renner.org, or you can call 1-800-742-5593 to order your copy or copies. We are grateful that we can offer it as a pre-release at a discounted price. This book really provides answers to a lot of people’s questions — and from now until its release on September 2, we are offering it at a 25-percent discount.

But let me get into what is on my heart for you today… It was, and still is, ingrained in the Renner family that we do not surrender to sickness. We generally possess a steadfast refusal to succumb to illness and a fierce commitment to “power through” any physical frailty. This ethos was forged into my grandfather, a German immigrant who toiled relentlessly to carve out an education and meaningful existence in the New World. He passed this mindset to my father, who then infused it in my sisters and me. From a young age, my siblings and I were taught to stride forward, regardless of fatigue or discomfort. As a result, we are tireless workers! Over the years, this mentality has resulted in my having short patience with people who go “too easy” on themselves when they could be accomplishing more with their lives.

I’m deeply grateful for the work ethic my father imparted to me — a guiding principle that blends well with the teachings of Jesus in John 15:16, where He told His disciples to “go and bring forth fruit.” This verse impacted my life so much that one of my foremost prayers every day is that I will be fruitful and productive and yield lasting results. In fact, as I lay in bed each evening when the day draws to a close, I reflect on my day to assess whether I’ve been fruitful and productive. The industrious spirit my father instilled in me, intertwined with my conviction drawn from Jesus’ words in John 15:16, has created in me a commitment to live a life brimming with purpose, and that mindset leaves no room for idleness.

All of this is good in a measure, but as years passed, I failed to see the need to take a pause or rest along the way. I likened myself to a perpetual engine, tirelessly whirring without heed for downtime. Even the mightiest of industrial machines demands maintenance and periodic rest, yet I stubbornly denied such needs until middle age. Alas, in my 50s, I faced a physical collapse so profound that rest was no longer a choice, but a necessity. That jarring wake-up call proved to be a vital course correction that invigorated my productivity and, I believe, ultimately prolonged my life. Yet as time marches on, I must honestly admit that the draw to fill my days to the brim and push past sensible boundaries is still a temptation I have to overcome.

The call of God upon my life is very serious to me. I am deeply convinced that God has given us a significant mandate to take the teaching of the Word to people across the planet. This affects my desire to be fruitful and productive and significantly influences the way I navigate life. The fleeting nature of time is also very real to me, and this awareness urges me to use every moment to its fullest. Yet in my desire for peak productivity, I sometimes find myself ensnared by the trap of overextending myself — trying to squeeze an endless array of tasks into an unrealistic time frame. Although I can maintain this relentless pace temporarily, the inevitable consequence is the toll of exhaustion and illness. This outcome is not a matter of a lack of faith, but rather a lapse in practicing balance and common sense.

Since I’m being honest, let me give you an example from a recent trip to the United States, during which I was slated to speak at a staggering 56 events, including in-person and online TV and podcast interviews, in 32 days. First of all, the journey from Moscow to our initial stopping point in the U.S. was a marathon in and of itself, taking us a grueling 56 hours door to door. Instead of taking a day to catch my breath upon arrival, I dove headfirst into my commitments at a relentless tempo that persisted without a pause throughout the entire trip.

It was a Herculean task to fulfill every engagement on the itinerary, and as the days wore on, the strain became more difficult to carry. Nevertheless, each morning I summoned every ounce of my resolve, pulling myself up “by my own bootstraps” and determined that I would joyfully fulfill every obligation. Despite the exhaustion that was mounting day by day, in typical form, I powered through it all until I had completed every single commitment I had set out to achieve.

As we embarked on the grueling 58 hours of flights back to Moscow, I noticed an all-too-familiar sore feeling in my throat — a sign that I had pushed myself beyond my limits. The reason I call it a “familiar” sign is that I have frequently experienced a bout of sickness after sustaining a long and unrealistic schedule. For me, such bouts of sickness have nothing to do with a failure to walk by faith in God’s promises for healing and health — they are usually a sign that I have once again pushed my physical body beyond its limits. In my relentless pursuit of productivity and eagerness to serve as many people as possible in the shortest span of time, I have pushed myself beyond my limits over the years. Time and time again, it has left me besieged with a sore throat and a stubborn cold. Once again, this is not an issue of faith; it is an issue of common sense.

To this day, I still grapple with committing to an overly ambitious schedule, but, thankfully, I’m surrounded by a loving family and a caring ministry team who love me enough to remind me, “You’re taking on too much in too short a time. It’s time to reel it in and focus on what’s feasible.” I usually do not like it when they tell me this, but later I’m thankful that they stepped in to help me. Now I am finally moving at a pace that is more realistic.

But what does a realistic pace look like for me? Each year, I make it my goal to write four substantial books, typically ranging from 350 to 850 pages each, and each year’s goal is to reach this four-book target. Alongside these extensive projects, I churn out a steady stream of content weekly, contributing to various ministry publications. I sit in front of a TV camera and film approximately 700 different television and media programs annually, and each new TV series we launch is accompanied by extensive study guides that I diligently help create.

Monthly, I appear as a guest for numerous online interviews, some sporadically, others regularly, while also participating in key meetings with our top ministry leaders scattered across the globe. I speak at about half of the church services at our physical Moscow Good News Church, and I play a leading role in our online Moscow Good News Church, a vibrant community with more than 250,000 regular participants.

Beyond these commitments, my ministry takes me across the world to minister and speak at churches, conferences, and gatherings throughout Russia, Europe, America, and beyond. Between these engagements, I meet with key government and religious figures in Moscow, and I also make it a priority to hit the gym three times a week for exercise, plus make sure that I fulfill my annual checkups at the doctor’s and dentist’s offices. In addition to fulfilling these responsibilities, I treasure my roles as husband to Denise, father to Paul, Philip, and Joel, father-in-law to their wonderful spouses, and proud grandfather to our eight precious grandchildren.

Every year, during the last week of December, I sit down to review what I accomplished that year. (I encourage you to do this as well. When you write down what you did or didn’t do, it helps you to be honest about your level of productivity so you can make the necessary adjustments for the new year.) As a part of my review, I list all my major accomplishments to gauge whether I’ve been genuinely effective and fruitful. Simply being busy isn’t my aim. My goal is to produce fruit that remains, to produce teaching that people can trust, to strengthen the Church, and to live in a way that gives glory to God. But as the year draws to a close and I perform my own annual review, no matter how much my family, my team, and I have achieved, I routinely find myself lamenting that I wasn’t able to do more. I find myself trying to figure out a way to more effectively use my time to be more productive in the upcoming year.

What you just read is much more balanced and realistic than what I tried to do in my earlier years. I don’t know what you accomplish in a single year, but please do not compare your annual output to mine, as we are all at different stages of capacity and different levels of fruitfulness. Second Corinthians 10:12 says it is not wise to measure ourselves by others or to compare ourselves to others. It is important that every person finds his own balance — his own pace of work and periods of rest — so that he can be fruitful and productive in a way that does not throw off his physical, mental, and spiritual equilibrium. As I said earlier, my temptation is to try to do more in a time frame than is realistic, and at times when I’ve overdone it, it has repeatedly affected me in all the ways I just described.

A life lived out of balance not only affects productivity and schedule, it also strains your finances and relationships, and it can take a toll on your physical, mental, and spiritual health. This is why, at the dawn of creation, God exemplified the importance of rest. Genesis 2:2-3 says, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

To reaffirm the need to devote a single day to God to rest, God gave the principle of the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:8-11, He said, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

Many argue about the role of the Sabbath for a New Testament believer, but that is not the topic of this letter. What is abundantly clear is that God has ordained a day of rest — a sacred interlude for halting one’s routine in order to worship Him and rejuvenate one’s body, mind, and spirit. The notion of “rest” is a deeply personal affair, varying in application from one person to another. Recognizing what defines rest for you is essential, and it is just as imperative to refrain from projecting your interpretation onto others.

Take, for example, the idea of lounging on a sun-drenched beach — it is an idyllic retreat for some, but for me, it’s a torturous ordeal. Not only will it ruin my so-called time of rest, but it will ruin everyone else’s time, too, because I will be so miserable that it will affect everyone around me. For Denise, a visit to the mall is restful, but for me, a venture to the shopping mall is similarly torturous and leaves me exhausted rather than refreshed. Conversely, immersing myself in the quiet halls of a museum filled with ancient artifacts breathes life back into me, though Denise might find it an exhausting effort to accompany me there, despite her best intentions. Denise and I have divergent definitions of “rest,” but we have learned how to negotiate our various styles of rest into our combined schedules.

Balance and rest are inherently personal pursuits, and it is vital that you discover what restores equilibrium for you. Perpetually working without finding some kind of reprieve is a type of self-abuse. You are treating yourself like a mechanical machine that neither demands rest nor requires care, but this lifestyle ultimately leads to an inevitable breakdown. I know this all too well, having pushed myself beyond my limits repeatedly over past years.

Today I have a far more balanced existence, and life is both productive and rewarding. Sometimes when others glance at my daily and weekly schedule, they wonder where “rest” fits into the picture. Yet I have discovered a rhythm of work and rest that works for me, and Denise has identified her own rhythm of work and rest — and together, we’ve crafted a harmonious blend that supports each other’s productivity. This decision has resulted in the sustenance of our vitality and strength, and it enables us to fulfill the endeavors to which we feel called.

Allow me to share a story from the New Testament that highlights the possible perils of an unbalanced lifestyle. This narrative features Epaphroditus, one of Paul’s dearest friends — a faithful minister with steadfast dedication to his calling. Despite Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross that provided healing and health, Epaphroditus found himself in the throes of a serious illness. The account in the book of Philippians suggests that his ceaseless and relentless work in the ministry led him to overextend himself, and it ultimately compromised his well-being. Could it be that his tireless devotion and desire to do too much too fast inadvertently opened an “entry point” for the enemy to try to bring him down and take him out?

In Philippians 2:25, Paul writes about Epaphroditus, saying, “Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.” I emphasize this verse, as it unveils the profound importance of this person in Paul’s journey — a genuine brother, cherished colleague, steadfast comrade, and devoted minister who commanded Paul’s deep respect.

In Philippians 2:26, Paul continues, “For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.”

When Paul discovered that the news of Epaphroditus’ illness had reached the ears of the Philippians, he understood that it would pierce their hearts and weigh heavily upon their spirits. The seriousness of Epaphroditus’ condition evoked a fear that they might never again witness the warmth of his smile or be graced by the melody of his laughter. The term “sick” finds its roots in the Greek word astheneia, which encompasses a broad spectrum of physical frailties and weaknesses. But as we delve into the following verse, it becomes clear that this malady afflicted Epaphroditus so severely that it brought him to the very brink of death.

Philippians 2:27 adds, “For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”

In Greek, the word “indeed” serves as an emphatic exclamation and highlights the profound gravity of the situation. The term “sick” is, again, from the Greek word astheneia, which embraces a spectrum of physical frailties and weaknesses. The words “nigh unto” are an interpretation of the Greek term paraplesion, which is a compound of the words para, meaning beside, and plesion, which is the Greek equivalent of a neighbor. When compounded, the word paraplesion, which is used by Paul in this verse, pictures someone who resides in close proximity to a neighbor. In this case, Epaphroditus was living nearby to “death.”

The word “death” is derived from a form of the Greek word thanatos, which signifies either death or a death sentence. As a complete phrase, it means that Epaphroditus “was so sick that he was living right alongside death.” It was as if a death-sentence were hanging over his life. Epaphroditus was so perilously close to death that he was practically its next-door neighbor.

But Paul then wrote that “…God had mercy on him….” The word “mercy” is from the Greek word eleeo, which depicts a heart-wrenching emotion that compels one to action. This tells us that, driven by deep compassion, God intervened to bring about Epaphroditus’ recovery from a perilous situation. The specifics of his healing — whether it was through miraculous means, faith and prayer, or a combination of spiritual and medical efforts — are not disclosed in the text. But what is certain is that Epaphroditus lingered under the grim shadow of death for quite some time before finally regaining his health.

The narrative refrains from revealing the precise reason for Epaphroditus’ illness, yet Philippians 2:25 paints a picture of him as a steadfast laborer, passionately committed to his ministerial duties. Experts tend to interpret the scripture as suggesting that his unwavering dedication, potentially compounded by stress and insufficient rest, might have ushered in the illness that threatened his life. This was not a trivial ailment but a severe condition that brought him to the brink of death. However, through divine intervention, he was granted recovery and was able to return to his essential ministry work.

In this story, we see the example of a devoted servant of God who grappled with physical ailments, even though Christ had secured his healing and lasting health on the Cross. But by doing too much of a good thing with no pause, it appears that he opened the door to an attack. But he found the path back to health through a mixture of faith, fervent prayer, likely medical aid, and much-needed rest.

If you have overdone it for too long and now your health is jeopardized in some way, God’s mercy is also present to restore you. If God will do it for me, and if God will do it for Epaphroditus, God will also do it for you. But once you are restored, it is vital that you learn — as hard as it may be — to find a rhythm of work and rest that is balanced. It is vital that you discover what lifestyle works best to bring equilibrium to your life.

If you ignore this truth, sooner or later, the devil will discover a way to slip into your life, targeting your body, emotions, or mind, with the aim of dragging you down and snuffing you out. Instead, why not adopt a proactive and preventative approach? Cultivate a lifestyle of balance in which you’re empowered to achieve much while also ensuring you get the necessary rest along the way. Your body will express its gratitude, your spouse will be appreciative, your friendships and other relationships will flourish more, and you’ll enjoy happiness and health throughout your life.

I realize this letter is a little different from what I would normally share, but I simply felt the need to encourage you this month to find the rhythm of work and rest that the Lord wants you to have. I pray that what I shared has encouraged you to rethink this issue for yourself and that the Holy Spirit will help you to devise a plan that works best for you!

As I close, please remember that we are here to pray for you. Just email us at prayer@renner.org or call us at 1-800-742-5593 — we are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT. We will really pray for you, and we believe Jesus will do what needs to be done in your life. And please, pray for us as we are pushing forward by faith to do what Jesus has commissioned us to do. It’s a huge task that requires many hands and hearts, and I am thankful that your own hand and heart are a part of what we do. Oh, we are so thankful for you!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our entire ministry team

P.S. Click here to view the new interactive Ministry Update page or click here to download the printable pdf flyer.

The Battle is Not Yours

July Teaching Letter from Denise Renner

Dear Friend,

I want to take a moment to thank you for reading this letter. Your prayers, encouragement, and support mean more to me than words can express. I deeply appreciate you and your heart for the Lord. It’s such a joy to walk this journey of faith with you, trusting God for His guidance, power, and provision in every area of our lives.

Today, I want to share with you about the incredible power of worship. Worship is more than a song or words—it is a powerful act that aligns us with heaven and opens the door for God to move mightily in our lives.

Let me share a teaching with you from 2 Chronicles 20 that shows how worship can turn impossible situations into victories. In this passage, King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah faced a terrifying threat: an enemy army three times their size. It seemed certain they would be defeated. In the middle of his fear, King Jehoshaphat made a powerful decision—he positioned himself to seek the Lord. He proclaimed a fast and led his people in prayer and worship.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

What stands out to me is how Jehoshaphat prayed. He began by declaring who God is:

“O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?”  —2 Chronicles 20:6

In worship, he reminded himself and his people of God’s greatness and faithfulness. This is such a powerful example for us. When we face challenges, worship helps us shift our focus from the problem to the One who is greater than any obstacle.

Jehoshaphat then told God the problem: the enemy had come to take what God had given them. He concluded with these words, which are so honest and relatable:

“We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
—2 Chronicles 20:12

What a beautiful posture of worship—humility, trust, and surrender. God does not expect us to know what to do all the time, and when we admit it to him like Jehoshaphat did, He is overjoyed to help us.

We see that God’s response was clear and encouraging:

“Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
—2 Chronicles 20:15

What an amazing promise! The Lord gave the people instructions: they didn’t need to fight, but they needed to stand still and position themselves to see His salvation.

Early the next morning, Jehoshaphat appointed singers to go before the army, declaring, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever” (2 Chronicles 20:21). As they worshipped, God Himself set ambushes against their enemies, and the enemy armies turned on each other. What could have been a day of defeat turned into a miraculous victory and blessing.

Friend, this is the power of worship. When we lift our eyes to God, magnify His greatness, and trust Him with our battles, we open the door for heaven to move. Worship shifts the atmosphere, silences fear, and aligns us with God’s purposes. It reminds us that the battle is not ours but the Lord’s.

I also want to encourage you with a testimony. A dear friend of mine once faced a terrifying situation: her daughter fell gravely ill with a disease that had taken other children’s lives. In that moment of fear, she, like Jehoshaphat, positioned herself to seek the Lord. As she prayed and worshipped, she heard the Holy Spirit say, “Don’t fear.” Strengthened by this word, she laid hands on her daughter in faith, and God raised her up completely healed. Worship brought the presence and power of God into that impossible situation!

If you are facing a battle today, I encourage you to worship. Declare God’s greatness over your situation. Remind yourself of His promises and faithfulness. Speak the name of Jesus, which is higher than any other name—higher than sickness, fear, or any challenge. When you worship, you align yourself with the power of heaven and open the door for God to move in miraculous ways.

If you need prayer, we are here for you. You can call us at 1.844.473.6637 or email us at prayer@deniserenner.org to pray personally with a member of our team. It would be our honor to stand with you in faith and believe God for your breakthrough.

I want to invite you to join me for my TV program, TIME with Denise Renner, every Monday at 7 AM CT and Wednesday at 12 PM CT on Facebook or YouTube, where I go into greater depth on this life-changing topic.

Thank you again for being part of this ministry. Your prayers and partnership are making an eternal difference in so many lives. I am so grateful for you, and I pray for you daily. You are precious to me, and I thank God for your heart to serve Him.

May the Lord bless you and fill your life with His peace, power, and provision as you seek Him and worship Him. Together, we are witnessing His kingdom come and His will be done!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

What Jesus’ Anointing Can Do For You

July Teaching Letter from Rick Renner

Dear Friends,

Greetings in Jesus’ wonderful name! I am really excited about what I am going to share in my letter today. Last month, we reflected on the incredible gift of Christ’s redemption — releasing us from the marketplace of sin and inducting us into the family of God. This month, although we take a different angle, we continue to explore that same redeeming power through the lens of Jesus’ anointing and His unchanging nature, for the One who redeems us is also the Anointed One — steadfast in His love, His purpose, and His power. Jesus’ powerful anointing is still active today and is available to you right now. Please read every word to the end of the letter because it is packed with what the anointing on Jesus can do for you right now.

But I want to FIRST say thank you for being the amazing friend and partner you are with this ministry. This morning as I was reading my Bible and praying, I stopped right in the middle of my Bible reading to pray for our partners. I had already prayed earlier for them, but as I read my Bible, my heart became filled with gratitude for what each person does. I am so thankful to God for you and for all you do to help us fulfill what Jesus has commissioned us to do. You are such a significant part of this ministry, and I want you to know how deeply thankful we are to God for you.

As Denise and I recently shared in a video that I sent to friends and partners, very often during summer months, people give less to the ministry, and this makes it difficult for us to stay on target in reaching people with the teaching of the Bible. We rarely make a financial request, but we would be so thankful for any extra gift during July and August so we stay on track with what God has asked us to do. You know that I rarely make this kind of request, so please know that I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel the need was important. You already do so much, and we are so thankful to God for you! And we thank you for praying for us as we do what Jesus has assigned to our ministry. If you haven’t already seen this short video clip but would like to see it, you can view it at renner.org/summergift.

I also want to remind you that my new book The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Tribulation is now available at our website, or you can call 1-800-742-5593 to order your copy. The book is being printed right now, and we’ll have it in our hands soon. I can hardly wait for people to get it! We are grateful that we can offer it as a pre-release at a discounted price, plus a flat shipping rate of $5.00 per book ordered (U.S. orders only). You will probably want to order multiple copies of this book because it provides answers to a lot of people’s questions. Also, for a limited time — from June 30 to July 14 — our Independence Day sale is happening in our online store at renner.org. During this time, every Renner product is on sale at a 25-percent discount (international shipping rates apply)!

Now let’s dive into the amazing facets of Jesus’ anointing from Luke 4, where we read that Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath, ready to participate in the sacred readings of Scripture. When His turn comes to read, Jesus unrolls the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, selecting the passage from Isaiah that speak of the anointing that would rest upon the Messiah. As Jesus reads with authority, He astonishes the congregation by proclaiming that these prophetic words are realized in Him.

This bold declaration ignited a fiery anger among many of the listeners, who — unable to fathom such a claim — were driven to a frenzy. They rose, intent on silencing Him forever.

However, in a miraculous turn of events, Jesus calmly passed through the chaos unscathed and left behind the angered throng (see Luke 4:28-30). Departing from Nazareth, He resettled in Capernaum and began a new chapter of His ministry.

In Luke 4:16-19, we read of that very moment when Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah and began to read. It says, “And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

In these verses, Jesus announces that He is the Messiah — that is, Christ or the Anointed One — and then He vividly describes what that anointing upon Him would accomplish in those who come to Him by faith. Hebrews 13:8 reassures us that Jesus remains unchanging, and His works today are as potent as they were 2,000 years ago. And since He is the same today as He was yesterday, it is vital for us to understand what He was anointed to do in the past so we can fully grasp what He continues to offer those who seek Him in the present.

Indeed, the words of Hebrews 13:8 irrefutably affirm that the works Jesus was anointed to perform in the Gospels are the same works He is empowered to accomplish today. In Luke 4:18, Jesus spoke of six categories of human ailments that His anointing would change for those who came to Him by faith. But as you will see, since this was true of His anointing 2,000 years ago, it is still true of His anointing today — for He and His anointing never change!

#1: Jesus Is An Economic Game-Changer

First, we read in Luke 4:18 that Jesus was anointed “to preach the gospel to the poor.” In the Greek language, there are numerous words that can be used to depict poverty, but the word “poor” in this verse is drawn from the Greek word ptochos. It is a word that transcends the usual depiction of poverty, and it portrays images of those trapped in the deepest depths of destitution, utterly devoid of resources — a state of despair, indigence, and impoverishment. But Jesus declared that He was anointed to bring a message that would produce profound economic transformations for those who languished in the direst poverty.

Because Hebrews 13:8 declares Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, this tells us that since Jesus was an economic “game-changer” for those devoid of resources 2,000 years ago, He continues to be an economic game-changer today for those who suffer in the grip of extreme poverty in our modern world. The anointing to break the stronghold of poverty was upon Jesus and it is still on Jesus. And that powerful anointing to this very day unleashes a force that shatters the chains of hopelessness for those ensnared in destitution. Because Jesus’ nature has never changed, to this day that anointing provides hope to those who are devoid of resources and lifts them from the depths of indigence and impoverishment.

Again, Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus and His anointing have not changed or waned over time. The same divine force that shattered the chains of poverty 2,000 years ago remains just as potent and active today. So if you’ve been caught in the relentless grip of financial hardship, know that you can turn to God in prayer with confidence and unwavering faith. You can tap into the timeless anointing of Christ, calling upon it to disrupt the cycle of poverty and usher change into your life, just as it did those many centuries past.

#2: Jesus Heals the Brokenhearted

Second, we read in Luke 4:18 that Jesus was anointed “to heal the brokenhearted.” The word “brokenhearted” is translated from a form of the Greek word suntribo, which describes the crushing of grapes with the feet or the smashing and grinding of bones into dust. Taken in context, this word depicts people who have been walked on by others, those who have been crushed by others, or those who feel they have been smashed to pieces by life or relationships. By using the Greek word suntribo, Jesus was declaring, “I am anointed to heal those who have been crushed by others and who feel walked on or smashed to pieces by life and relationships.”

The word “heal” in this verse is translated from a form of the Greek word iaomai, which means to cure or to heal, and it frequently referred to a progressive cure. Unlike instant recuperation, this word depicts a healing power that progressively reverses a condition over a period of time or a sickness that is progressively healed rather than instantaneously healed. Although the anointing on Christ often yields immediate and miraculous outcomes, this word iaomai tells us of a different manifestation of His anointing. Approximately 2,000 years ago, when Christ’s anointing touched people who were deeply crushed by others — or by life itself — and were emotionally devastated as a result, the anointing He released moved deeply into their shattered emotions and minds and began the process of mending. That anointing invisibly worked unabated inside them until the person reached full recovery and restoration.

It is fitting that this word “heal” would be used to picture Christ’s anointing in a person who bears deep wounds and scars in his mind and emotions. This anointing progressively dissolves layers of pain, one after another, until the individual eventually reaches complete restoration. For a reminder, this is an anointing especially for the “brokenhearted” — for those who have been walked on by others, or who feel they have been crushed by others, or those who feel they have been smashed to pieces by life or relationships.

Take a moment to reflect on the number of people you know who feel trampled, broken, or overwhelmed by life’s challenges and by relationships. Our world is filled with individuals carrying emotional wounds and scars in their hearts and minds. Yet Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that Jesus Christ and His healing power remain unaltered. The same anointing that restored the emotionally wounded two millennia ago is just as powerful today, and it is ready to bring complete healing to those struggling with emotional and mental burdens. Jesus remains constant, and since His power produced emotional and mental healing in people 2,000 years ago, it is equally present now to heal our deepest wounds.

I encourage you to embrace the anointing of Christ and allow it to mend your heart and mind today, just as it did in times past.

#3. Jesus Delivers Captives

Third, we read in Luke 4:18 that Jesus was anointed “to preach deliverance to the captives.” The word “deliverance” finds its roots in the Greek word aphesis, which conveys the idea of complete dismissal, unbinding, liberation, or setting someone free. The word “captives” is translated from a form of the Greek word aichmalotos, a variant of aichme, which is the Greek word for a spear. But when the word aichme becomes aichmalotos, it is not merely a spear, but it pictures the pointed tip of a spear pressing relentlessly into someone’s back. Consequently, the person who wields the spear holds the power to dictate the captive’s path and to steering them at his will.

This word “captive” refers to those who are dragged into some kind of bondage by a sinister force that metaphorically holds a spear to their backs. It could be any number of things, including a poor self-image, toxic relationships, stubborn habits, the overpowering grip of alcohol or drugs, or disease, illness, and sickness. No one wants their lives to be controlled by any of these destructive developments. But this word “captives” includes a wide range of possible meanings, and it is unequivocally taking into account anyone who endures the chains of disease, illness, or sickness.

But Luke 4:18 declares that when Jesus came, He came as a herald of emancipation. His anointing unleashed liberation to those ensnared by the devil’s grasp. The four Gospels are testimonials to the power of Christ’s anointing, which, 2,000 years ago, brought deliverance to the diseased, the demon-possessed, and all those plagued by various kinds of disease, illness, and sickness. That anointing shattered the spear the devil held against their backs and that He intended to use to keep them in bondage. Once touched by the anointing, those individuals experienced an extraordinary and swift liberation, and they stepped into freedom to embrace the life God had designed for them.

Once again, stop and ponder how many people you know who are taken captive by the devil in some area of their lives. Though they long for freedom, the sharpened tip the enemy has pressed into their backs — driving them with a poor self-image, toxic relationships, habits, or keeping them in the grip of alcohol, drugs, disease, illness, and sickness — egregiously controls their lives. As you read this list, you may see yourself in one of these categories and may be thinking, “The devil has a spear pressed against my own back and has been manipulating my life.”

But once more, let’s turn our hearts to the truth found in Hebrews 13:8 — a timeless truth that assures us Jesus Christ and His anointing to liberate the bound remains unchanging: The very anointing that broke chains and freed the captive souls two millennia ago continues its transformative work today, releasing those ensnared by evil. As expressed in Acts 10:38, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and helping all who were oppressed of the devil….”

The fact that Jesus’ anointing shattered shackles and brought freedom to those who were bound 2,000 years ago means that His anointing is still at work to free people today, for Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Right now His anointing is still available to offer freedom to anyone who is held in any form of physical or mental bondage. This is a truth that can be embraced and accessed by anyone right now by faith in Him and His Word.

To review so far, Jesus was and is anointed to set the captives free, as enumerated in Scripture:

• #1: He is an economic game-changer by the power of that anointing
• #2: He heals the brokenhearted by that healing anointing
• #3: He delivers those held captive, and He does it through that yoke-destroying anointing

#4: Jesus Recovers Sight to the Blind

Fourth, we read in Luke 4:18 that Jesus’ anointing brought “recovering of sight to the blind.” The words “recovering of sight” are translated from a form of the Greek word anablepsis, which is a compound of the words ana and blepo. The word ana means again, and the word blepo means I see. As a compound, it means to see again. In Luke 4:18, this word depicts the miraculous restoration of one’s sight.

During the early New Testament era, the miraculous act of granting sight to the blind was viewed as the utmost miracle, as blindness was believed to be utterly beyond cure. Yet curing blindness is God’s express will, and Jesus returned sight to the blind multiple times, as we read in the following verses:

• Matthew 9:27-31 John 9:6-7; 32,39
• Matthew 11:5 John 10:21
• Matthew 12:22 John 11:37
• Matthew 15:29-31 Acts 26:18
• Matthew 20:29-34 Psalm 146:8
• Matthew 21:14 Isaiah 29:18
• Mark 8:22-26 Isaiah 35:5
• Mark 10:46-52 Isaiah 42:7,18
• Luke 7:22 Luke 18:35-43

But because “blindness” was considered to be impossible to remedy, it meant Jesus’ anointing was able to heal even the worst of all physical maladies. If that anointing could restore sight, people understood that His power could undo any form of disease, illness, or sickness that afflicted any human being.

But in addition to miraculously restoring physical sight to the blind, Jesus also gives “sight” to those who have been spiritually blinded by the devil. The word “blind” is derived from the Greek word tuphlos, and it doesn’t just depict a person who is unable to see; it depicts a person who has been intentionally blinded by someone else. It can picture one whose eyes have been deliberately removed so that he is blinded. The individual hasn’t just lost his sight — he has no eyes with which to see.

This reminds me of Second Corinthians 4:3-4, where Paul wrote, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

In his writings, Paul describes how Satan has “blinded” the unbelievers’ minds using the word tuphoo. This word isn’t just about a lack of vision. This word tuphoo depicts one who has had his or her eyes “removed” by another. If you have friends or family members who appear unable to see the truth, it isn’t that they are naive — they are blind. Satan has “gouged out” their eyes, blocked their view, affected their minds, and they have no spiritual eyes with which to see.

But miraculously, when someone preaches the Gospel to them, the Holy Spirit gives them spiritual eyes to see. Indeed, it’s when we shine the light of the Gospel to those whom Satan has blinded that the Holy Spirit creates eyes for them to see!

Two millennia ago, the anointing on Jesus restored sight to the blind, and since He could do this, it meant there were no known human ailments that could resist the power of His touch. As we reflect on Hebrews 13:8, we are again reassured that Jesus Christ and His healing anointing are unchanging. The same power that gave sight to the blind, and that could heal any physical or mental condition, continues to heal today. Jesus remains constant, and as He worked wonders then, so, too, He extends His healing hand to heal all manner of sickness and disease today. He is unchanging, and the same anointing is present right now for all who come to Him by faith.

Jesus Liberates Those Who Are Bruised

Fifth, we read in Luke 4:18 that Jesus’ anointing came “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” The words “set at liberty” are translated from a form of the Greek word aphesis, which is the same word translated as “deliverance” earlier in the verse. It describes a dismissal or a release, or it means to permanently set someone free.

The word “bruised” originates from the Greek word thrauo, which conveys the idea of crushing or breaking one down. It pictures a person whose life has been fractured or one whose life has been split up and fragmented. This word “bruised” also clearly describes those who are oppressed. Of course, when we think of oppression, we gravitate to the idea of mental oppression, but oppression can also be felt in the body as one is weighed down by a sinister outside force that tries to crush or dominate it with disease, illness, and sickness. But the word “bruised” could also refer to one who has been shattered by a life experience, by broken relationships, including the trauma of divorce.

In the powerful proclamation of Luke 4:18, we see that Jesus was anointed to free those ensnared by life’s deepest fractures. That anointing which was unleashed more than 2,000 years ago shattered the chains of those whose lives had been fractured and crushed, permanently freeing them from the burden of past traumas. Hebrews 13:8 declares Jesus and His anointing is exactly the same today as 2,000 years ago! Since He healed this category back then and His anointing has never changed, that means if those who are “bruised” in any way will come to Jesus by faith, they can still be liberated from their bruised condition.

Jesus’ Same Anointing Is Available Right Now

Sixth, we read in Luke 4:19 that Jesus came “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” The word “acceptable” is translated from the Greek word dektos, and it means accepted or favorable, and it depicts a favorable time to receive. The use of this phrase implies that whenever Jesus’ anointing is present, it marks the most favorable time in a person’s life to receive whatever kind of healing is needed. And since Hebrews 13:8 says He and His anointing are unchangeable — and because Jesus’ power is present through the ministry of the Holy Spirit — it means “right now” is the best moment for you to receive whatever you need His anointing to do in your life!

But in Luke 4:18 and 19, we see that Jesus’ anointing manifests in the following ways:

• It is an economic game-changer for the poor and will break the relentless grip of financial hardship, disrupt the cycle of poverty, and will bring change to their lives.
• It heals the “brokenhearted,” or those who feel they have been walked on or crushed by others — or who feel they have been smashed to pieces by life or by relationships.
• It sets free “captives” who have been dragged into bondage by a sinister force, whether it be a poor self-image, toxic relationships, stubborn habits, alcohol, drugs, disease, illness, or sickness.
• It restores “sight” to the blind, which means Jesus’ anointing is so powerful it can restore physical sight (along with spiritual sight) and, since He can heal the blind, there is no sickness known to medical science that He cannot heal.
• It sets at liberty those who are “bruised” — that is, those who have been fractured, fragmented, split up, or who suffer any kind of oppression in their emotions, mind, or
• It is available in an “acceptable” time, which means right now, at this very moment, for anyone who comes to Him by faith!

Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever — and this means since this multifaceted anointing was on Jesus 2,000 years ago, it is still on Jesus today, and each facet of His powerful anointing is available to you right now.

The reason I shared these verses with you today is, I really want you to know that Jesus has the power to touch every sphere of your being. Whatever you need, He has the answer and the anointing to bring liberating change into your life.

If we can pray with you for that power to be released and to touch a part of your life, please reach out to us so we can pray with you. Please call us at 1-800-742-5593, or send us an email at prayer@renner.org. The moment we hear from you, we’ll release our faith, and we will believe for Jesus’ power to do exactly what needs to be done. As I told you at the beginning of this letter, we are already praying for you, but hearing exactly how we need to pray helps us to pray better, so please let us know.

I ask you to pray with me that God will use my new book The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Tribulation to answer many people’s questions and strengthen their faith. I am excited about it, and I am really believing it will be a tool of the Holy Spirit to touch many people. And please pray for us as we continue to press forward to touch people around the world with the life- changing message of Jesus and the teaching of God’s Word through our many platforms and outreaches.

We love you and we thank God for you!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our entire ministry team

P.S. Click here to view the new interactive Ministry Update page or click here to download the printable pdf flyer.